The sense of taste is primitive (i.e., of early evolutionary origin), limited in repertoire and considered by most to be one of the minor senses. Along with olfaction and chemesthesis (chemical irritancy), it is a member of the chemical senses, reflecting the nature of the stimuli it transduces. In contrast to olfaction, which is capable of detecting stimuli emanating from near or far, taste is strictly a contact sense requiring effective stimuli to be in close proximity to its receptor cells. Despite these humbling attributes, taste is a sense of particular importance to nutrition and health. This is increasingly apparent as evidence accumulates on the role of taste in the detection and metabolism of dietary fat, the topic of this chapter.
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