Improve your Travel Writing
We have over 100,000 taste buds that can detect different chemicals and minerals in food so we can distinguish nutritious from harmful (or even poisonous) substances.
Whether you’re eating or drinking, your brain integrates all the different stimuli from each of your sensory inputs, which makes the experience of tasting food a multi-sensory adventure.
Taste is something that is different to each of us and is difficult to get across in your writing….If you think about it, taste is more than just something your brain interprets from your taste-buds. It’s texture and smell and sight and even process, all mixed together. Try this: “The undercooked bacon felt like a wet sponge placed on my tongue, only grease leaked into my mouth instead of water.” Or this: “I could smell the mold even before I put the cheese into my mouth.” Source: Fuse Literary
Sense of Taste
Our taste buds use this information to elicit five different sensations.
- Salty
- Sweet
- Bitter
- Sour
- Savory also referred to as Umani (a Japanese word for a pleasant savory taste that is distinct from just saltiness).
Although we initially associate taste with food, we can also use our sense of taste to describe other experiences like the taste of salty air or smoke from a fire. What we refer to as taste also involves a combination of taste, touch, and smell.
As food touches our mouth, we can feel its temperature, and it’s almost an automatic reaction to smell the aromas of the food so that the perception of flavor comes from your nose before your taste buds have time to experience it.
There’s a well-known saying that we eat with our eyes, and a visually appealing plate of food can get our taste buds salivating. And let’s not forget your sense of sound (hearing), consider the crunch of your spoon cracking through the hard caramel layer of a crème brûlée.
Describing the sense of taste helps you to connect your writing to your readers. It makes what your writing relatable. When you describe a taste sensation, your reader will be transported back to a time when they had a similar experience. As soon as they have this nostalgic experience, they’re connected, and invested in your narrative. You don’t have to spend a couple of paragraphs describing a taste sensation. Less is more. Create short, snappy taste descriptors that immediately hit home, and make your writing connect.
Describe Taste Using a Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that describes an object or action in a way that isn’t literally true, but helps explain an idea or make a comparison. … A metaphor states that one thing is another thing. The sense of taste is a challenge to describe, but by using a metaphor you can paint a picture in the minds of your readers.
My favorite comedian, Tim Hawkins, compares the flavor and taste of a Krispy Kreme donut to “eating a baby angel.” How true is that, though? via @write_practice
From A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens: there were piles of filberts (hazelnuts), mossy and brown, recalling, in their fragrance, ancient walks among the woods, and pleasant shufflings ankle deep through withered leaves; via The Writing Place
Food descriptions without the Taste
You may struggle to accurately describe the actual taste of food or drink, but when you include food and drink into your travel writing, the mere presence of them can invoke a reaction in your reader’s mind:
If a truck driver sits at the counter eating chili, the reader knows he likes spicy food. Adding extra hot sauce may suggest he’s older, or a smoker, and has lost some of his taste buds. If he orders apple pie à la mode he’s a guy who has fond memories of his childhood (that’s my interpretation, not necessarily accurate). via The Writing Place
Taste isn’t just associated with food
- When a character arrives at the coast, the usual thing would be to have them smell the sea. Instead, have them taste the salt on the breeze. via Novel Writing Help
- On a beach, you can often taste the sea spray. In a fire, you taste smoke. Use the flavor of the air or a drink or even a character’s own dry lips to help the reader put themselves in your narrative as deeply as possible. via Swoon Reads
You know how when you lose something the best way to describe how you feel is bitter. Or when you score points on a video game you would call it a sweet victory. So sometimes taste isn’t simply for food but for emotions as well. via Enette’s World
Here’s a great resource of describing taste and flavor of foods.
If you’ve written or come across a travel article that uses the sense of touch effectively, please add the links to the comments below.
Using your sense of taste creates a physical and emotional reaction to your #travelwriting, and provides a scene your reader can relate to. Click To TweetThe above content is an excerpt from my Five Senses Travel Journal
For more articles in this fives senses series:
