Do Taste Buds Have A Memory?

Do you ever wonder if your taste buds have a good memory? 

I’ve been a part of the Weight Watcher circuit for almost nine years now.  When a WW member eats a food they haven’t eaten in a while, they usually claim “it wasn’t as good as it once was.”  Sure, I can think of a time or two that it has happened to me.  But could it be because the memory of how good that food tasted was buried further down than a different type of food? 

Case in point: I stopped at Jack In The Box on my way home from our Saturday night on the town and ordered a jumbo jack and curly fries.  I took one bite of the burger and moaned with delight.  My taste buds remembered this memory very vividly and it was as if they came alive with excitement.  It was an amazing tasting burger and I couldn't stop moaning as I ate it.

Now, I do have some explanations as to why I had this reaction.

1)    I don’t eat burgers very often.  So really it doesn’t take much to excite my taste buds.

2)    I had consumed alcohol earlier in the night and might have been feeling a slight buzz.

3)    After being downtown and smelling the scents of the hot dog trucks and Pita Pit, all those good memories of my years hanging out downtown in college flooded my brain making me happy. 

4)    I just was an amazing tasting burger.

Regardless of the reasons I felt at that moment this was an exceptionally delicious burger, the excitement wore off after a few bites.  While the burger was amazing the curly fries weren’t.  So after I felt satisfied, I stopped eating and threw the rest away. 

 

 

I would love to say that I hated my jumbo jack and I’ll never have one again.  I looked up the points after I ate it and the burger is 19 SPV.  That alone tells me that my splurges need to be kept to a minimum and maybe only after consuming alcohol and spending a night downtown.  Needless to say it was tasty and at least I’m not craving another one anytime soon.