Basic Tastes
For a long period, it was commonly accepted that there is a finite and small number of "basic tastes" of which all seemingly complex tastes are ultimately composed. Just as with primary colors, the "basic" quality of those sensations derives chiefly from the nature of human perception, in this case the different sorts of tastes the human tongue can identify. As of the early twentieth century, physiologists and psychologists believed there were four basic tastes: bitterness, saltiness, sourness, and sweetness. At that time umami was not proposed as a fifth taste but now a large number of authorities recognize it as the fifth taste. In Asian countries within the sphere of mainly Chinese and Indian cultural influence, pungency (piquancy or hotness) had traditionally been considered a sixth basic taste..
Read more about this topic: Taste
Famous quotes containing the words basic and/or tastes:
“The research on gender and morality shows that women and men looked at the world through very different moral frameworks. Men tend to think in terms of “justice” or absolute “right and wrong,” while women define morality through the filter of how relationships will be affected. Given these basic differences, why would men and women suddenly agree about disciplining children?”
—Ron Taffel (20th century)
“I am surprised you shd. say fancy and aesthetic tastes have led me to my present state of mind: these wd. be better satisfied in the Church of England, for bad taste is always meeting one in the accessories of Catholicism.”
—Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889)