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Why can a loss of smell make food seem less flavorful?

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Plate of sushi rolls with salmon, vegetables, and rice wrapped in seaweed, served with chopsticks and a small bowl of soy sauce on a wooden table. — gastronomy A common rice dish of Japanese cooking is sushi. To make a type known as *maki-zushi*, a sheet of seaweed is spread with rice flavored with vinegar. Seafood or vegetables and garnishes are then placed on top. Finally, the whole sheet is rolled into a cylinder and sliced.

A loss of smell makes food seem less flavorful because what we commonly call "taste" is actually a complex perception known as flavor, which results from the simultaneous stimulation of the senses of taste, smell, and touch.12

While the tongue detects five fundamental taste sensations—sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami—the vast majority of the nuanced characteristics of food are derived from aromas. When you eat, these aromas travel from the back of the mouth up to the olfactory nerve endings in the nasal cavity.132

When a person has a cold or another disorder that blocks access to the olfactory epithelium, the taste buds on the tongue remain functional, but the critical olfactory input is lost. Without this contribution from the sense of smell, the overall perception of flavor is significantly diminished, making food seem bland or less flavorful.12