Lose your sense of smell, wreck your sense of taste

People who lose their sense of smell, a condition called anosmia, often find that their perceptions of food are all screwed up. This is because our perception of taste is so bound up with our sense of smell; without the nose, just perceiving sweet, sour, salty, bitter, unami (a taste triggered by MSG in food)—and, most recently, fat, yes, fat—leaves food tasting flat, yes, flat. In "Failing the Sniff Test: The Nose, Ruined," Paul Lukas of the NYT tells how anosmia patients re-train themselves to taste food again in a new way.