W.W. Norton & Company, April 2017Scientists know a fair bit about the genetics that underlie people's taste perceptions—enough, in fact, to make it clear that each of us lives in a unique world of flavor. Genetic differences likely explain some (though not all) of why former president George H.W. Bush hated broccoli, why a gin and tonic is ambrosia to one person and anathema to another, or why some of us put sugar in our coffee. I wanted to learn more—and, especially, I wanted to know where my own taste perceptions fit into the picture. That brought me to the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia.
In particular, I wanted to see Danielle Reed, who has done a lot of the best work on genetic differences in taste perception. A few months before my visit, I had drooled into a vial and shipped it off to Reed for genetic analysis. (Saliva contains enough cells that geneticists no longer need blood sampes or even cheek swabs to run their DNA tests.) Now it's time to see how my sense of taste compares with everyone else's.
Reed's taste-test procedure couldn't be more low-tech. Her assistants hand me a box containing several numbered vials of liquid, plus a large plastic cup to spit into. Starting with vial 1, I sip the liquid, swish it around in my mouth, and spit into the cup, indicating ...
