Taste is reflexive and innate, while smell is not.

Food is both fuel and medicine, but this doesn’t mean we have to strip it bare of its magic and reframe it as a power source for some robot-like, maximally efficient human body. Yes, the reality is that food is a basic, physical human need. It is fuel, in a sense, and by extension, we are machines that need fuelling. But we’re also thoughtful

sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and savory (umami). Umami literally means “pleasant savory taste” or “deliciousness” in Japanese and owes its mouthwatering quality mostly to glutamate, an amino acid classically found in monosodium glutamate, or MSG.