I never counted them personally!!! There are about 10,000 and are located not only on the tongue but also underneath and they allow us to determine the flavour of food and to distinguish between sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umani (or savoury taste) …the debate is still open if it is basic taste!!! typical food rich in umani taste include soy sauce in oriental cuisine or parmesan cheese in Italian cusine
People used to think there were zones of the tongue that taste certain tastes such as sweet, sour etc. along with the five Giovanna described scientists are starting to think that we have a sense of taste for fat too!
Apparenlty men and women can have different sensitivities to taste a well. Men who tend to like the taste of more bitter things apparenlty only use around 85% of their taste buds!
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