[Magdalen] Supertasters and random quiz

[Marion Thompson]

Shit happens, as I can attest.  I have now passed the eight month mark 
without taste or smell.  A huge part of life's pleasure has vanished 
from my life.  Food and drink, of course, are boring and evaluated in 
different terms like refreshing or good mouth feel or spicy (although I 
can't tell the particularheat agent) or plain featureless.  Seasoning 
cooking for balance is quite beyond me. Smell, ah!  Living alone, I 
can't tell when the cat box is offensive.  I can't smell a burning pot, 
or cooking food at all.  I can't smell flowers, tragic for a gardener.  
I can't smell wood smoke, or bacon.  Or a gas leak in my new house.  Am 
I personally giving offense through body odor or bad breath???  Or 
almost worst of all, the incense at my church or in my home.

There is little hope that these senses will return.  :-((((  I do 
however continue to eat and drink as before; there is just no direct 
pleasure, only memory.  I remain cheerful.

Marion, a pilgrim

On 9/11/2015 3:54 PM, Jon Egger wrote:
> My darlin' daughter and hubby Ben are cyclists. When they were assigned to
> Sandy Eggo, they were going to cycle one day.  Ben was ahead of her, at the
> bottom of a street, and Annie was just getting on her cycle.   Being that
> she was just a quarter of a block from him, her brain misfired and she
> thought, "Meh, only a quarter of a block...I'll put my helmet on when I
> meet up with Ben."  Four or five cars down from her, someone opened their
> front driver door, sending Annie head over heels, and Annie had one hell of
> a concussion.
>
> The 'only thing' she lost is her sense of smell.  She notices it every day
> and sometimes is very sad.  Ben, always says, "Annie does the litter box."
> They are a fun couple, always laughing and making puns, and I am so
> grateful that they both think outside the box.
>
> Grace and peace,
> brud
>
>
>
>
> On Fri, Sep 11, 2015 at 1:51 PM, Charles Wohlers <
> charles.wohlers at verizon.net> wrote:
>
>> BBQ chicken at Curtis' in Putney, VT: http://www.curtisbbqvt.com/
>>
>> Chad Wohlers
>> East Bridgewater, MA USA
>> chadwohl at satucket.com
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message----- From: Sally Davies Sent: Friday, September 11,
>> 2015 2:39 PM To: magdalen Subject: [Magdalen] Supertasters and random quiz
>> Fun neuroscience fact of the day: people have differing amounts of
>> tastebuds which is why some are far more sensitive to flavour than others.
>>
>> An at-home test for how well endowed you are: Apply  a couple of drops of
>> blue food color to your tongue and swallow a few times. Then examine
>> your tongue's surface; fungiform papillae won't pick up the dye, so they'll
>> look like pink polka dots on a blue background. If your tongue appears to
>> be almost solid pink, then you have tons of fungiform papillae and may be a
>> supertaster.
>>
>> Maybe that's one for the kids to do - I don't much fancy it!
>>
>> Also interesting that taste buds (which are buried under those pink polka
>> dots) are also found in quite a few other places around the roof of the
>> mouth and back of the throat. Complex perceptions of flavour are the work
>> of higher brain areas which call on aroma, current emotions, and memory as
>> well as taste.
>>
>> What's the best thing you've ever tasted?
>>
>> Sally D
>>
>> <neuroscience maven these days.
>>