You know when you haven’t eaten since lunch, and you’re waiting for the food that’s cooking in the kitchen; when the scent finds its way up your nostrils and your mouth starts watering? You know that sense of euphoria you receive when you bite into a perfectly prepared, tender, juicy steak? Your brain produces happy chemicals at the smell and taste of good food. Yes, food scientifically makes us happy.

You know when you’re congested, and you can no longer taste your food. Does anyone else feel legitimately saddened by that moment? Can you imagine feeling this way all the time?

Taste disorders disrupt the receptors in your taste cells from properly responding to flavors. Hypogeusia is the reduced ability to taste all four kinds of flavors (savory, salty, sweet, and bitter,) and aguesia is not having the ability to detect these flavors at all. Another taste disorder, called Dyguesia, leaves a rancid, metallic taste in your mouth.

Now imagine tasting food for a living and being diagnosed with a taste disorder. Not being able to taste food is bad enough, now imagine not being able to get paid for tasting food. Boo-hoo. Your life would be ruined.

. . . Unless your taste buds are insured.

“Master Ice Cream Taster John Harrison’s” taste buds are insured for $1M, as well as chocolatier Haleigh Curtis. In the ‘50s, Egon Ronay was the first known person to have his taste buds insured, at $250,000.

 By: KayLynn