I.

Title: Taste the smell.

II.

Purpose: To determine whether smell affects food taste.

III.

Question: Does smell affect the taste of food?

IV.

Hypothesis: Food should taste different if smelled before eaten.

V.

Materials:
a. Trial 1: plates, forks, napkins, spoons, plastic cups, blue cheese, onion bagels, oranges,
peach tea, chocolate cake, cinnamon buns.
b. Trial 2: plates, forks, napkins, spoons, plastic and paper cups, toothpick, onion bagels,
pesto, cream cheese, cinnamon coffee cake, spam, coffee, pickle.

VI.

Variables:
a. Manipulated Variable: food types (different types of food).
b. Responding Variable: taste (bland, sweet, sour, spicy, bitter), and smell of food.
c. Controlled Variable: leadership students, procedure.

VII.

Experimental Procedures:
Trial 1:
Instruction:
1. Choose a food station.
2. Sample the food without smelling it by covering your nose before you eat.
3. Record the taste in the chart by marking an x on appropriate taste box.
4. Take a smell of the same food item.
5. Record the smell in the smell column using adjectives to describe the smell.
6. Now take the taste of the food.
7. Record the taste in the column with smell.
8. Move with your partner to another station.
9. Repeat step 1-8 until all food station has been sampled.

Trial 2:
Instruction:
10. Rinse your mouth with water from the sink.
11. Choose a food station.
12. Hold your nose closed with one hand and then taste the food.
13. Continue to chew and swallow with your hand on your nose, keeping it closed.
14. Record the taste in the chart, marking with an x on the taste on the column
without smell.
a. Multiple x can be mark, with exception of bland. Bland food
has no taste, and therefore cannot be mark with any other
taste.
15. After recording, bring the food close to nose and smell. Inhale deeply to get an
accurate smell.
16. Recording the smell into the empty box below the with smell column.
17. After recording, you can taste the food. Make sure to chew slowly to get the full
flavor.
18. Record the taste in the chart, marking with an x on the taste on the column
with smell .
19. Move with your partner to another station.
20. Repeat step 1-10 until all food station has been sampled.

VIII.

Observations/Data:
Trial 1:

Taste

Bland
Sweet
Sour
Spicy
Bitter

Blue Cheese
Without With
x

Food Tasting Test 1

Lindsey
Onion Bagel
Oranges
Tea
Without With Without With Without With
x
x
x
x
x
x

Chocolate Cake Cinnamon Buns

Without With Without With
x

Smell
plain
like
nothing

bitter

Blue Cheese
Without With
Taste

Bland
Sweet
Sour
Spicy
Bitter

Onion Bagel
Without With
x

juicy

Maryam Nabinah
Oranges
Tea
Without With Without With
x

like
chocolat
e

lemony

smells
sweet

smells
fruity
(sweet)

good,
tasty

Chocolate Cake Cinnamon Buns

Without With Without With
x
x
x
x

Smell
smells
like
pretty
bad

strong,
smells
bad

Taste

Bland

Sweet
Sour
Spicy
Bitter

Blue Cheese
Onion Bagel
Without With Without With
ice
cream
cake
crispy
after
taste,
sharp

Zack McAlister
Oranges
Without With

x
x
x

juicy

Tea
Without With

fruity

tropical

smells
very
sweet

smells
very
sweet

Chocolate Cake Cinnamon Buns

Without With Without With

blossom
looms

creamy

mushy
slimy

Smell
ice
cream
cake

bitter

bitter
and sour

fruity

milky

slimy

Blue Cheese
Without With
Taste

Onion Bagel
Without With

Ethan Van
Oranges
Without With

Tea
Without With

Chocolate Cake Cinnamon Buns

Without With Without With

Bland
Sweet
Sour
Spicy
Bitter

bitter

bland

sweet

sweet

bitter

spicy

the
cheese

spicy

bland

spicy

sweet

sweet

Smell
bitter
and
spicy

Taste

Bland
Sweet
Sour
Spicy
Bitter

bland,
like
onion

sweet,
juicy

Onion Bagel
Without With
x
x

Allyson Hom
Oranges
Without With
x
x

stinky

salty

sweet

Blue Cheese
Without With
x

Onion Bagel
Without With
x

Blue Cheese
Without With
x

peachy

Tea
Without With
x
x

sweet
and like
cinnamo
n

like
chocolat
e, sweet

Chocolate Cake Cinnamon Buns

Without With Without With
x
x
x
x

Smell

Taste

Bland
Sweet
Sour
Spicy
Bitter

Jonah Park
Oranges
Without With
x
x

sweet,
fruity

Tea
Without With
x

cinnamo
ny, spicy

sweet

Chocolate Cake Cinnamon Buns

Without With Without With
x

Smell

stinky

salty

nothing

sweet

sweet

sweet

Blue Cheese
Without With
Taste

Bland
Sweet
Sour
Spicy
Bitter

Onion Bagel
Without With
x
x
x
x

x
x

Daniela Kerr
Oranges
Without With
x
x
sour

Tea
Without With
x

Chocolate Cake Cinnamon Buns

Without With Without With
sweet sweet
x
x

Smell
doesn't
smell
like
anythin
g

smells
like
bread
blend

strong

smells
like
chocolat
e sweet

sweet
and
sugary

fruity

Trial 2:
Onion Bagel
Without With
Taste

Bland
Sweet
Sour
Spicy
Bitter

Pesto
Without With
X

Food Tasting Test 2

Lindsey
Cream cheese Cinnamon Coffee
Spam
Without With Without With Without With
X
X
X
x
x

Coffee
Without With

Pickle

Without

With

Smell
Salty
and
pungent

Salty

Taste

Bland
Sweet
Sour
Spicy
Bitter

Onion Bagel
Without With
X
X
X

Pesto
Without With

creamy

Sweet
pleasant

strong
spicy

strong

Maryam Nabinah
Cream cheese Cinnamon Coffee
Spam
Without With Without With Without With
X
X
X
X
X
X

Coffee
Without With

Smell
Smelled
like a
very
savary
food

smelled
chessy

smells
good
(sweet
and
pleasant
)

Smelled
good
(very
sweet
and
cinnamo
ny)

Smells
really
bad!
smells
like a
raw
meat.

bitter

Pickle

Without

With

Smells
very
strong

Smelled
sour

Taste

Bland
Sweet
Sour
Spicy
Bitter

Onion Bagel
Without With
x
x

x
smells
sour and
bitter,
tastes
bland

Onion Bagel
Without With
Bland
Sweet
Sour
Spicy
Bitter

Zack McAlister
Cream cheese Cinnamon Coffee
Spam
Without With Without With Without With
x
x
x
x

Coffee
Without With

Pickle

Without

With

Smell

Taste

Pesto
Without With

x
smells
bitter,
tastes
bitter
and
creamy

Pesto
Without With
X

X
X
X

x
smells
bland,
tastes
bland

smells
sugary
and
tastes
sweet
and
gooey

salty

x
the
pickle
smells
bland
and
tastes
bitter

salty
smells
salty,
tastes
salty

Ethan Van
Cream cheese Cinnamon Coffee
Spam
Without With Without With Without With
X
X
X
X
X
X

slimy

Coffee
Without With

Pickle

Without

With

Smell
It smells
like
onions

Taste

Bland
Sweet
Sour
Spicy
Bitter

Onion Bagel
Without With
x
X

It smells
like
vegetab
le

Pesto
Without With
x

Like
rotten
milk

Sweet
and like
cinnamo
n

smells
sweet
and
salty

Allyson Hom
Cream cheese Cinnamon Coffee
Spam
Without With Without With Without With
x
x
x
X
x
x

Sweetn
ess like
brocolli

It smells
bitter

Coffee
Without With
X
x

Pickle

Without
X

With

X
X

Smell

salty

Taste

Bland
Sweet
Sour
Spicy
Bitter

Onion Bagel
Without With
x
x

salty,
strong

Pesto
Without With
x

pleasant
, sweet

sweet,
cinnamo
n,
pleasant

bitter,
refreshi
ng,
stong

salty

Jonah Park
Cream cheese Cinnamon Coffee
Spam
Without With Without With Without With
x
x
x
x
x
x

Coffee
Without With

x
x

salty,
sour,
crunchy

Pickle

Without

With

Smell

Bland

bitter

Sweet
and
Creamy

Smells
Bland

nothing

Strong
and
Bitter

Sour

Taste

Onion Bagel
Without With
Bland
X
Sweet
X
Sour
Spicy
Bitter

Pesto
Without With
x
x

Daniela Kerr
Cream cheese Cinnamon Coffee
Spam
Without With Without With Without With
X
x
X
x
x
X

Coffee
Without With

Pickle

Without

With

X
X

Smell

spice

strong

bland

pleasant

smokey

sour

IX.

Data Analysis:
Trial 1:
Table 1

Lindsey
Maryam
Zack
Ethan
Allyson
Jonah
Daniela
Total

Taste Trail 1
Change No Change
3
3
4
2
0
0
6
0
4
2
3
3
4
2
24
12

Taste Trial 1

No Change
33%
Change
67%

Figure 1

Data from trial 1 is summarized in table 1, showing whether there is an indicated change
in taste when a food is eaten without smell first and consumed once again after smelling it.
Figure 1 shows that, out of 36 collectable data (data that was filled out appropriately with
given instruction), approximately 67% of food eaten indicates a change in taste. This shows
a majority of the food tasted across various students differently when students smell the
food in comparison to when students did not smell the food.
Trial 2:

Table 2

Lindsey
Maryam
Zack
Ethan
Allyson
Jonah
Daniela
Total

Taste Trail 2
Change No Change
5
2
3
4
1
6
3
4
5
2
2
5
4
3
23
26

Taste Trial 2

Change
47%

No Change
53%

Figure 2

Data from trial 2 is summarized in table 2, showing whether there is an indicated change
in taste when a food is eaten without smell first and consumed once again after smelling it.
Due to a clearer instruction and familiarity with the process, the trial yields a total of 49
collectable data. Figure 2 shows that, out of 49 collectable data, approximately 47% of food
eaten indicate a change in taste. There is a 20% difference in the data indicating a change in
taste in comparison to data in table 1. However, because of the smaller set of data,
approximately only 73% collectable data of that in table 2, there expected to be some
margin of error.

Another look into the data from the perspective of each student reveals where the
outlier that cause the margin of error. Below is the comparison between the two trials of
how many food types each student indicates a change in taste:

Taste Trial 1
Number of food type eaten

7
6
5
4
3

Change

No Change

1
0
Lindsey Maryam Zack

Ethan Allyson Jonah Daniela

Students

Graph 1

Taste Trial 2
Number of food type eaten

7
6
5
4
3

Change

No Change

1
0
Lindsey Maryam Zack

Ethan Allyson Jonah Daniela

Students

Graph 2
One can observe that Zack has no data collected for trial 1 due to data not being
properly recorded in Graph 1. Therefore, his data makes a big impact in trial 2. Ethan, on the
other hand, seems to have a sharp spike in number regarding the food taste being different
when not smelling before eating. These two may account for the huge margin of error.

If Zack were to be taken out of the data, the difference in trial 2 and 1 of food taste
changing is reduced to 15% (67%-52%), as seen below in figure 3.

Trial 2 without Zack

No Change
48%

Change
52%

Figure 3
There difference is drastically reduced to a mere 6% (60%-54%) margin of error if both
Ethan and Zack were to be taken out of the data entirely. The 2 figures below show this reduce
in difference:

Taste Trial 1 without Zack and Ethan

No Change
40%
Change
60%

Figure 3

Taste Trial 2 without Zack and Ethan

No Change
46%

Change
54%

Figure 4
X.

Conclusion: With the help of the leadership students, the experiment proves that food do
taste differently if smelled before eaten. However, due to the lack of clarity on the
instruction during the first trial, the experiment results in a large margin of error in the
percentage of food taste changing. Nevertheless, if two outliers, Zack and Ethan, were to be
taken out, the experiment proves to be that the data shows a consistent percentage in food
being taste differently when smelled before eating. Further improvement can be done by
increasing a larger number of students, more food types, and perhaps a focus in one specific
area of taste or smell to see which one causes the change the most.