When we chew food, specialized gustatory receptors on our tongue tell us whether the food is sweet or salty. However, at the same time, odorants from food travel from back of our mouth to the olfactory receptors. The combination of information from gustatory and olfactory receptors give us the sense of overall flavor. However, when we have a cold, as the olfactory receptors cannot detect the odors, we don’t get a complete sense of taste and flavor.
