How do we know?
↻ One of the pages with a moving picture
A scientist noticed a taste in seaweed that wasn’t sweet, sour or salty.
- Your tongue is covered in tiny bumps. Many hold taste buds.
- When food touches a taste bud, special taste cells sense it.
- They send signals to your brain: sweet, sour, salty, bitter or savory.
- Taste buds for all five tastes are all over your tongue, and some are in your throat!
In 1908, Kikunae Ikeda of Tokyo Imperial University sensed a taste in kombu seaweed that wasn’t sweet, sour or salty. Experiments showed it came from glutamate.
A famous picture, the “tongue map”, says each part of the tongue tastes only one thing. It came from a 1901 graph that was redrawn wrong in the 1940s.
Taste buds are not only on the tongue. They’re also at the back of the roof of your mouth.
Wow number
5 There are five basic tastes. Umami is the savory, brothy one.
Myth or fact?
Your tongue has a sweet zone at the tip and a bitter zone at the back. Myth. It came from a 1901 graph that was redrawn wrong in the 1940s.
You have taste buds in your throat. Fact. They’re also at the back of the roof of your mouth.
Think about it
Why do you think things taste different when your nose is stuffed up?
Where in the world?
Tokyo, Japan where, in 1908, Kikunae Ikeda of Tokyo Imperial University found what gives kombu seaweed its tasty flavor — 35.6762° N, 139.6503° E.
Where these facts come from
Every number on page 88, and who measured it
This page tells us about the five basic tastes and where taste buds are.
The tongue map and the spatial modulation of taste perception — A science review about where on the tongue we taste, shared by the U.S. National Library of Medicine
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8956797
We checked it on 31 October 2026
This page tells us why the tongue map is a myth.
The Myth of Tongue and Taste — Harvard Health Publishing, from Harvard Medical School
health.harvard.edu/diet-and-nutrition/the-myth-of-tongue-and-taste
We checked it on 31 October 2026
This page tells us where the wrong tongue map came from.
The Taste Map of the Tongue You Learned in School Is All Wrong — Smithsonian magazine, from the Smithsonian museums
smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/neat-and-tidy-map-tastes-tongue-you-learned-school-all-wrong-180963407
We checked it on 31 October 2026
This page tells us how Kikunae Ikeda discovered umami in Tokyo in 1908.
Kikunae Ikeda Sodium Glutamate — The Japan Patent Office
jpo.go.jp/e/introduction/rekishi/10hatsumeika/kikunae_ikeda.html
We checked it on 31 October 2026
Has this changed?
How we taste is not going to change.
What changed was the tongue map: it turned out to be a mistake that was copied for decades.
Words from this page
- taste bud
- A tiny group of taste cells that senses what you eat.
- umami
- The savory, brothy taste.
- glutamate
- A natural chemical that gives food its savory, umami taste.
Try it!
Spot the bumps on your tongue.
1. Stand in front of a mirror with a flashlight. 2. Stick out your tongue and look at the tip, sides and middle. 3. Count the bumps in one small spot.
What happens: lots of tiny bumps! Many hide taste buds too small to see.
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