A whole new world! Eating through textures

Losing my complete sense of tastes has led me to appreciate food in a very different way.  I find myself eating to experience the variety of textures in food as well as smelling the aromas leaving me with nostalgia of the taste engrained in my memory. 

I have always been a lover of rubbery and chewiness in foods but without being able to experience tastes, I look for things that I can roll around in my mouth or chew.  I was at a dinner and I really enjoyed eating a salad with slivers of carrots and cold noodles because the textures reminded me of rubber bands.  The little divits in grilled calamari cause me to continue to chew creates an interesting story for me and it made eating less mundane.  I enjoyed pushing potato gnocchi against the top of my mouth with the smooth velvety textures and rolling my tongue against it.  Little pops of caviar are like little bursts in my mouth.  Hot and sour soup was just a bowl of glutinous and syrupy soup with all kinds of mushrooms and bamboo chutes to create more unique textures.  I could also get a hint of the spice in the back of my throat but it was just emptiness in flavour. I smelled a piece of pineapple and in my mind, I could sense the juicy sweetness of it but instead I could only experience the sinewy stringy texture of it.  Bananas were interesting too as I can smell the scent triggering a nice but subtle banana flavour.  Instead it was like eating the consistency of mud.  An orange too triggers a refreshing, tangy, sweetness and I salivate at the thought of it but in my reality, it’s like eating water encased an orange slice. 

Every morning I wake up thinking this could be the day I can taste again and over the last 2 weeks, I am very disappointed.  I have seen a doctor who swabbed my tongue and had no answers.  I have been to a homeopath and tried a few remedies.  I am drinking Chinese herbal tea – which smells very bitter but doesn’t have the bad taste I’m used to.   This is truly a medical mystery as no one has been able to give me an answer or a solution. 

Losing my taste buds have been agonizing as I’m such a food lover and really I used to enjoy my meal times.  Now I feel like eating has become a bit of a chore and I need to really force myself to sit down and eat my food.  I am completely deflated at the thought of eating good food as those simple pleasures of great flavour profiles are a thing of my past now.  I am optimistic but as days have passed, I am stuck on experiencing food in this new way for the time being.

Thinking about your senses, what would be worse for you?  Losing taste, smell or touch?  For me, you know the answer!