Sick and Can’t Taste? Blame Your Nose, Not Your Tongue

Other than the insufferable coughs and high fevers, there was one symptom almost everyone complained about during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic—food suddenly tasting like nothing. It’s one thing to be living through a global pandemic, but losing the joy of enjoying your favourite foods whilst being in quarantine? Not a fun memory for most….

It's a common experience to feel like you’ve “lost your taste” when sick. But in actuality, your sense of ‘taste’ isn’t the main culprit—it’s more so your sense of smell. This article explores the science behind how we taste, how illness messes with it, and what it takes for that bland, flavourless feeling when you’re under the weather to go away.

How Do We Taste?

Contrary to popular belief, what we think of as ‘taste’ is not solely about what lands on your tongue. What we call ‘flavour’ is actually a blend of two senses: taste and smell.

Taste buds, otherwise known as taste receptors, are mostly found on the surface of taste cells located within the tiny bumps on your tongue, called papillae (Meissner-Bernard and Fleischmann, 2024). Each taste bud can detect five basic flavour categories: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami (a savoury flavour found in things like soy sauce and cheese). 

When you eat, enzymes such as amylase in your saliva begin breaking food down into molecules. Some of these molecules bind to receptors on your taste buds—and when stimulated, signals are sent to the brain—which processes those signals and translates them into recognisable tastes. 

The remaining food molecules, however, do not stay in the mouth—but rather, travel up your nose. Olfaction refers to the sense of smell—and there are two key pathways:

1. Orthonasal olfaction: Smelling something through your nose while inhaling

2. Retronasal olfaction: Smelling something that’s inside your mouth while exhaling, as odour molecules from chewed food travel up your throat to your nasal cavity.

The two pathways of olfaction as can be seen in the figure above—work in tandem with our sense of taste to create the full experience of flavour. Unlike taste receptors, which are limited to detecting five basic flavours, olfactory receptors can identify thousands of different odour molecules, from cinnamon and garlic, to chocolate and citrus. 

When we eat or drink, much of what we perceive as ‘taste’ is actually the aroma that reaches our olfactory receptors—mainly through retronasal olfaction—rather than the initial ‘taste’ we get when the food or drink reaches our tongue.

What Happens When You’re Sick?

When you’re sick—especially with a cold or the flu—your nasal passages become inflamed. The tissue in your nasal cavity, including the turbinates (structures that warm and filter air), swells up. Mucus production increases, and traps pathogens.

Here’s what that does to your smell:

• The mucus overproduction and swelling blocks odour molecules from reaching your olfactory receptor cells.

• These receptors also rely on basal and supporting cells to regenerate and function properly—something inflammation can impair.

• As a result, your brain is unable to get accurate signals about the food’s aroma.

So even though your tongue is working just fine, your brain isn’t getting the full flavour profile. This is precisely why everything tastes dull, bland, or just “off” when we are ill.

When Does Your Sense of Taste Return?

For the majority of people, ‘taste’ returns upon recovering from said illness, once infection clears and inflammation goes down—that said, a retrospective analysis of national data led by Massachusetts Eye and Ear found that about 2% of COVID-19 patients reported no recovery of taste, and 20% reported only partial recovery. If your sense of taste does not return within two to three weeks post recovery, it is advised to consult a doctor—as it may signal long-term damage to your olfactory system.

So the next time you’re sick and your mom’s chicken noodle soup tastes like boiled cardboard, don’t blame your tongue, nor your mom for that matter—blame the mucus party and inflammation happening in your nose.

Your body is capable of creating rich, layered flavour experiences—only when both your tongue and nose show up to the dinner table.

Reference list

CEENTA (2023). Why does food taste bland when I’m sick? [online] Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates. Available at: https://www.ceenta.com/news-blog/why-does-food-taste-bland-when-im-sick [Accessed 27 Jul. 2025].

Club Oenologique. (2024). Behind the Glass: The science of smelling. [online] Available at: https://cluboenologique.com/story/behind-the-glass-gus-zhou-book-extract/ [Accessed 27 Jul. 2025].

Mass Eye and Ear. (2023). Millions of Patients Do Not Have Full Recovery of Smell or Taste Senses After COVID Infection, Study Finds. [online] Available at: https://masseyeandear.org/news/press-releases/2023/06/millions-of-patients-do-not-have-full-recovery-of-smell-or-taste-senses-after-covid [Accessed 27 Jul. 2025].

Meissner-Bernard, C. and Fleischmann, A. (2024). Why Does Food Taste Flavorless When You Have a Cold? Frontiers for Young Minds, [online] 12. doi:https://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2024.1347445.