How does the tongue taste?

The tongue map in your school book is a myth, chilli heat is not a taste at all, and most of what you call flavour is really smell. The tongue is all muscle and no bone, moved by eight pairs of muscles.

Read how it works: How does the tongue taste? · The history of understanding taste · More boxes on Glassbox

Chapters in this interactive model

1. The tongue and mouth: A bundle of muscle, carpeted with bumps that hide thousands of taste buds.
2. Five tastes, five kinds of receptor: Sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami, each caught by its own receptor.
3. The tongue map is a myth: Every part of the tongue with taste buds tastes all five.
4. Chilli heat is pain, not taste: Capsaicin tricks a heat sensor; menthol tricks a cold one.
5. Flavour is taste plus smell, and more: Hold your nose and most of a food’s flavour disappears.
6. Keeping it healthy, and what changes it: Taste cells renew every week or two; the tongue muscle talks and swallows.