The case of the tricky taste test: this month, learn about the senses
SuperScience, Oct, 2009 by Elizabeth Carney
CHARACTERS
Narrator 1
Kayla
Mr. Davis
Rose
Stacy
Narrator 2
Narrator 3
Samuel Miller
SCENE 1
Narrator 1: Kayla rushes home from school, excited about an important announcement.
Kayla: Listen to this, Dad! My school is having a baking contest.
Mr. Davis: That’s wonderful, Kayla. You should enter. It will be a good chance to practice baking.
Narrator 1: Mr. Davis, Kayla’s dad, is a professional pastry chef. He often makes tasty desserts for the family.
Kayla: Could you help me?
Mr. Davis: Sure! But you’ll have to make the final product yourself, like the rest of your classmates.
Narrator 1: The doorbell rings. Kayla opens the front door to find Rose and Stacy, girls from school who live in the neighborhood.
Kayla: Hi, Rose! Hey, Stacy!
Rose: Hi, guys. I’m glad you’re home, Mr. Davis. I was wondering if I could borrow your cake pans. I’m entering my grandma’s strawberry shortcake in the school baking contest.
Stacy: And I’m making cheesecake.
Kayla: I’m planning to enter too. I just haven’t decided what to make yet.
Stacy: Well, I’ll give you a tip. Our class president, Samuel Miller, is going to judge the contest. I’ve heard that he doesn’t like things with a strong vanilla flavor.
Kayla: Really? In that case, I’ll make your apple pie, Dad. It’s our favorite, and the recipe doesn’t include any vanilla.
Rose: I’m sure both of your desserts will be delicious, but I am confident that mine will earn first place in the contest.
Mr. Davis: Remember girls, trying your best is most important–not who wins first place. Here are those cake pans for you to borrow, Rose. Good luck!
Scene 2
Narrator 2: A few days later, Kayla is trying out her dad’s apple pie recipe. Mr. Davis arrives.
Kayla: Hey, Dad. You’re home early. Are you OK?
Mr. Davis: AH-CHOO! My nose is stuffy. I think I’ve caught a cold. How is the pie coming along?
Kayla: I just took it out of the oven. Would you like to try a piece and tell me if I’m on the right track?
Mr. Davis: I don’t know if I’ll be much help, I’m afraid. With this cold, I can’t taste a thing.
Kayla: Why would a stuffy nose affect your sense of taste? Mr. Davis: Our senses of taste and smell work together to make what we perceive as a food’s flavor. Our taste buds detect only basic flavors like sweet, sour, bitter, and salty. Our nose–when it’s working properly–picks up a food’s odor to give a fuller taste sensation.
Kayla: Wow. So if you didn’t like the way a food smells, you probably wouldn’t like the way it tastes, right?
Mr. Davis: That’s right. That’s why I need to get over this cold.
Scene 3
Narrator 3: It’s the day of the baking contest. The contestants stand in front of their baked goods, waiting for Samuel to come by for his taste test. All of the students are hoping to make a good impression on the judge. Rose is first, Kayla stands in the middle, and Stacy is last.
Rose (confidently): I want to make sure I look good when I have my picture taken with the first-place trophy. I’m going to brush my hair.
Stacy: I’m pretty sure I’m going to take first place, Rose. I’m going to put on some perfume.
Kayla (rolling her eyes at both Rose and Stacy): Well, I just need to tidy up my area.
Narrator 3: Rose and Stacy both take small spray bottles out of their bags. Rose spritzes her hair with some water to tame a few strands while Stacy spritzes something from her own bottle. Kayla is busily arranging her pie and paper plates. Suddenly, the area where Kayla is standing smells strongly like vanilla. Samuel takes a bite of Kayla’s pie.
Samuel: This apple pie looks delicious, but I don’t like the taste of it at all. There’s a strange flavor to it.
Kayla: How could that be? Wait a second …
Narrator 3: Kayla turns to Rose and Stacy.
Kayla: Someone sabotaged my chances at winning, and I can prove who is to blame!
solve, the mystery
Did someone change the taste of Kayla’s pie? To solve the mystery, grab these materials:
* Two slices of apple
* Plate
* Two drops of vanilla extract
* Cotton ball
Place the apple slices on the plate. Bite into a slice of apple. Note how the apple tastes. Dip the cotton ball into the vanilla extract. Hold the scented cotton ball near your nose as you bite into the second apple slice. Chew the apple white holding the cotton close to your nose. How does the apple taste now? Could a perfume have influenced Samuel’s sense of taste?
ESTIMATED TIME: 45 minutes
BEFORE READING
Set a Purpose
Read a fictional science mystery to Learn about how the senses of smelt and taste work together. Then, perform the experiment to solve the mystery.
Discussion Question
* Do you ever notice a change in your sense of taste when you have a stuffy nose or if you hold your nose while eating? (Possible answers: Food may have tasted bland and was not as appetizing.)
AFTER READING
Conclusion
Since the nose and mouth are joined at the throat, we smell and taste food at the same time. People’s tongues can differentiate only between major tastes, like sweet, sour, and salty. The rest of foods’ flavor comes from the detection of odor molecules by the nose
baking and pastry schools
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