Memory of food?

(rabia) #1

When I was young (read: a kid, basically) I could remember what a food tasted like, and may or may not have conjured a drool as a result, depending on the food…I recall that the memory of pickled jalapenos would set me off like crazy.

As I got older (not related to being keto or not, just age) my ability to recall the specific and detailed flavor of food has all but disappeared. I can obviously remember that I like a food or that I do not like a food, but I can’t think of it and relive the flavors like I used to. I suspect this has an impact on cravings, as I don’t have cravings ever, but I wonder if other people experience the same or if I am broken?

Just as an aside, I can still taste food just fine in the moment…just don’t store those details in memory anymore.

Anyone else?

(Karen) #2

Stay keto for a while and then when you taste the strawberry it will all come back to you

(rabia) #3

I think you misunderstand me. I can taste and enjoy food in the moment, but once the eating is done I can not remember the taste of the food.

I KNOW I like strawberries. I can’t for the life of me imagine what a strawberry tastes like in this moment though. I’ve been like this for 25-30 years, keto or non-keto, it doesn’t matter.

Just wondering if I am an outlier or if other people also don’t store tastes in their memory.

(Karen) #4

Not sure but the thought of certain foods makes me drool. Perhaps a memory of flavor.

K

(Carl Keller) #5

This is definitely a bittersweet thing to not be able to remember what something tastes like. Of course the obvious reason for it being sweet is you don’t have cravings and also tasting something is like tasting it for the very first time, over and over. Not sure if that’s a blessing or not.

I googled this “condition” and there’s a few forum discussions regarding this. So it does happen to a few people. But nothing seems to be medically documented. Looks like you are 1 in a billion.

(rabia) #6

What’s extra weird about this is: I recognize food when I taste it without a problem, so obviously the flavor is recorded somewhere in my memory…I just can’t call it up independent of the experience of eating.

Also this doesn’t seem to effect my ability to identify missing flavors when I am taste testing my cooking…”this needs more cardamom” or the like.

And I wasn’t always this way…my recollection of flavors were quite vivid, when I had the capability.

Thanks for the link. :grin: