I'm never far from the salt shaker. People often scold me. Saying that I eat too much salt and that my taste buds are dulled. They think I add salt to create flavor in foods, but that's actually not true. In fact, I actually have more diserning taste buds than most. I am a "supertaster." A name given to those with a hightened sense of taste by Linda Bartoshuk, a psychologist who studied peoples taste perceptions in the 1990s.

There is a long history of studying this issue starting in the 1930's by Dupont. In another study completed in 2010, John Hayes, Ph.D., an assistant professor of food science at the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences, brought this issue up again. Probably bacause of the push for everyone eat less salt. However, this may not be the answer for everyone.

It is suspected that supertasters have a different genetic make up. Most likely born with more sensative tasters, or a larger quanty of taste buds, supertasters taste sensation is magnified. Salt is one of the ways supertasters make otherwise bitter foods taste palatable. Becuase they experience saltiness, bitterness more intensely than other people do, they need less fat and sugar to satisfy taste buds... as long as they have salt. But if this nation is successful with decreasing the salt levels in foods, this may change. We supertasters like more salt rather than less. I need to taste the salt in order for most foods to taste good to me partially because salt doesn't just adding salty flavor, but because it decreases or masks the bitterness of foods; bitterness that non-supertasters don't notice because their taste buds are not sensative.

In honor of supertasters everywhere, I raise my salt shaker in a toast! 
Salt it, because it tastes better that way. 

To support my movement to Save Our Salt (SOS) - working against the fanitacs that feel that they should control others salt intake. Join SOS at Facebook so we can win the fignt to continue enjoying flavorful foods without hvaing to turn to fats and sugar!