We ordered take-out from a local restaurant yesterday with peach cobbler for dessert. The cobbler was excellent, but in addition to cinnamon, it had some spice (nutmeg?) that we couldn't identify. That got me thinking about taste.
I have a good friend who has been on a combination of some very strong antibiotics and some very strong pain meds because of complications from surgery. As a result, he lost his sense of taste entirely. It is starting to come back, but for a while, except for the consistency, he couldn't tell one food from another.
By defining the frequency, you could explain Blue to a blind man or D-flat to someone who is deaf. You couldn't make them experience sound or color but given the necessary equipment, they could be taught to reproduce D-flat or Blue.
It strikes me that odor or taste would be much more difficult.
I know that there are companies in the business of producing artificial flavors, but the chemistry involved in breaking down a product , extracting the esters produced and in what amounts has to be a daunting task. I don't think they ever get the artificial flavors quite right, but I guess that's just a matter of taste.
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