S01EP15 你能在闭着眼，捏住鼻的时候，分辨出土豆泥，苹果泥和洋葱泥吗？

Can you tell the difference between a mashed potato, apple, and onion without your sense of sight and smell?

Intro:

Welcome to daily fun facts where we discuss fun facts about this crazy world. Use these newfound facts to break the ice and start an interesting conversation.  Happy learning everyone!

Dialogue:

Brie:  Come, come, you have to see this TV show I’m watching!  It’s a “Hell’s Kitchen” blind taste test! The chefs are competing to see who can correctly guess the flavors of different types of food. You won’t believe how bad most of the competing chefs are at guessing the flavor of ice cream in this game.  One chef has even mistaken banana ice cream for chocolate!  Can you believe that, Andrea?

Andrea:  He mistook the flavor of banana for chocolate?  How, Brie? Those flavors are so different!  I can taste the difference between banana and chocolate with my eyes closed. 

Brie: You are very confident in your taste buds, Andrea! One would assume that as professional chefs, the show contestants would have well developed tastes by now. 

Andrea:  Are they able to smell what they’re tasting?

Brie: No.  In the challenge, the chefs are blindfolded and fed the ice cream so quickly, they don’t have the chance to smell it. 

Andrea:  Aha!  Now I get what’s going on!  The chefs can’t tell the difference between the flavors because they can neither see nor likely smell the food they are tasting.   This reminds me of an interesting fun fact:  If you were to blindfold yourself and plug your nose, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a mashed potato, apple, and onion!

Brie: 你是说如果我们戴着眼罩，堵住鼻子来品尝捣碎的土豆泥，苹果泥和洋葱泥，我们是很难将它们区分开来的?！No way, those three foods taste completely different!  I’m pretty confident that I can distinguish one from the other under any circumstances.

Andrea:  If I were you, I wouldn’t be so sure.  Up to 80% of our sense of taste is based on our sense of smell.  How we experience the flavor of food is a result of how we experience the combined sensations of sight, smell, taste, and touch.  Without our ability to smell, our food will be very bland.   If the apple, potato, and onion have the same texture and consistency, then, without our ability to see or smell, we will perceive that they have a similar taste.  

Brie:  我们多达80％的味觉是由我们的嗅觉决定的。 食物的风味是综合了我们的视觉，嗅觉，味觉以及口感等的一个整体感受。因为土豆泥，苹果泥和洋葱泥具有十分相似的口感和味道，在我们看不见也闻不着它们的情况下，我们就很容易将它们混淆在一起了。So, you mean, if I plug my nose and close my eyes and then eat a mashed potato, apple,  and onion, I will not be able to tell the three foods apart because they taste and feel the same?

Andrea:  Exactly!  One thing I need to clarify, though, is that when it comes to food, taste and flavor are two distinct concepts that are often confused.  So, when I say taste, I am referring specifically to the chemical sense perceived by the receptor cells on the taste buds of our tongue that enables us to experience the 5 basic tastes:  Sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and savoury or umami.  When I say flavor, I am referring to the total sensory experience that occurs when we eat.  The brain interprets stimuli from the texture, smell, taste, and temperature of our food to create this sensation. The pain that we feel when we eat certain foods such as those that are spicy is also considered part of a food’s flavor.

Brie:  Alright, I sort of understand your point now.  Taste and flavor are two totally different concepts.  Taste，“味道”指的是我们舌头味蕾能感知到的化学感受。人的味蕾通常可以识别甜，咸，酸，苦，鲜这五种基本味道。 然而 flavor，“ 风味”指的是我们进食时， 大脑根据食物的质地，气味，味道和温度而产生的整体感官体验。 我们平时吃的辛辣食物的辛辣味并不是味道的一种，而是我们口腔感受到的痛感，因此辛辣味只是食物风味的一部分。But how does our sense of smell play such a crucial role in influencing the flavor of food? 

Andrea:  Great question!  Located high in our nose are nerves that are stimulated when we smell odors.  These nerves communicate with our brain which then triggers our saliva glands to secrete saliva.  Our taste buds are activated as the saliva mixes with our food when we eat, creating our sensation of taste. When our nose gets stuffed up, such as it sometimes does when we get sick, we are unable to perceive the flavor of our food.  This is because the scent molecules were unable to reach the scent receptors in our nose.

Brie: 当我们进餐时，食物的气味分子首先进入鼻子的上方神经，神经再将气味信号传递给大脑，大脑便会触发唾液腺分泌唾液，以为充分品尝食物的味道做准备。唾液与食物混合会激活我们的味蕾，从而产生味觉。 当我们感冒鼻塞的时候，气味分子很难到达我们鼻子里的气味接收体。这便是我们生病时，吃饭总是寡然无味的真正原因了。This reminds me of a Chinese saying 色香味俱全, which means a nicely cooked dish should look good, smell better, and taste delightful!  If a dish doesn’t plate in an appetizing way or has a bad smell, a taster’s interest in the dish is halved.

Andrea:  It would certainly be hell to be unable to distinguish between the flavors of food or eat something that does not look appetizing.  Well, I guess that’s why the show you are watching is called Hell’s Kitchen.  I enjoy eating homemade food with my family, and discussing what makes the flavors so good is what helps bring us closer together.  Indeed, I have my senses to thank for being in such good odor with my family!

Brie:  What do you mean when you say that you are in good odor with your family? Do you mean that you all smell good?

Andrea:  No, although the word “odor” refers to a smell, and usually an unpleasant one at that, when I say that I am in good odor with someone, I mean that I am in a good relationship with that person.

Brie:  I see, so being able to come together to enjoy the flavors of homemade cooking helps to improve your relationship with your family!

Andrea:  Yes, and for that I am thankful for my senses of smell and taste!

Close:

So, everyone, there’s your fun fact of the day!  Let’s go over some of the vocabulary and phrases from this dialogue.

Vocabulary:

Hell’s Kitchen  《地狱厨房》是以英国独立电视台节目为蓝本，于美国福斯广播公司播出的一个烹饪实境秀电视节目。

Chef  / ʃɛf /  厨师

Assume  / əˈsum /  假定，假设

Contestant  / kənˈtɛs tənt /  参赛者，选手

Blindfold  / ˈblaɪndˌfoʊld /  眼罩

Mashed  / mæʃt /  捣碎的

Distinguish  / dɪˈstɪŋ gwɪʃ /  区分

Circumstance  / ˈsɜr kəmˌstæns /  情况

Sensation  / sɛnˈseɪ ʃən /  感觉

Texture  / ˈtɛks tʃər /  质地

Consistency  / kənˈsɪs tən si /  黏稠度 

Perceive  / pərˈsiv /  感知，觉察   

Clarify  / ˈklær əˌfaɪ /  阐明，澄清

Distinct  / dɪˈstɪŋkt /  不同的

Umami  / uˈmɑ mi /  鲜味

Stimuli  / ˈstɪm yəˌlaɪ /  刺激物

Saliva gland  / səˈlaɪ və glænd /  唾液腺

Secrete  / sɪˈkrit /  分泌

Molecule  / ˈmɒl əˌkyul /  分子

Receptor  / rɪˈsɛp tər /  接收体

Appetizing  / ˈæp ɪˌtaɪ zɪŋ /  让人有食欲的

Phrases:

（To) be hell 糟糕的

（To) be in good odor with (someone) 和某人关系融洽

Alright, join us next time for another fun fact to help break the ice! 好了，这就是我们今天的有趣常识分享，如果喜欢我们，请别忘了点击订阅！拜拜，咱们下期再见！

Disclaimer: This podcast is not sponsored by nor has any affiliation with the “Hell’s Kitchen” TV show. 

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