It might be a dumb question to ask, but I find it confusing. Is the perception of taste additive?
Or to be more precise, can two tasty food items combine to give a more delicious product?
For me, this sounds logical. I believe that the sense of taste is due to some chemical reactions in our mouths, which in turn fire up our taste receptors to give some specific signals to the brain. So when two tasty foods combine, there would be more signals that are identified as 'Tasty' by the brain. That should give the food combination a stronger taste than its constituents.
But I found some contradicting examples.
- I like to drink tea and coffee. But once, when I accidentally mixed a cup of tea with coffee, it wasn't tasty at all.
- I have seen some specific 'COMBINATIONS' of foods that taste better than their constituents.
What does this mean? More likely, my understanding of taste perception is flawed. If it is, then what is the real working mechanism of taste?