A Sweet Lesson

Candy ready for taste test

In past workshops in India, I have brought small, fruit flavored hard candies for experiments with smell and taste. This time, I was assured that the program could find candies in India. Sure enough, they did find fruit flavored candy, but it was in the form of a lollipop. Sometimes you have to do with what you have.

The four different flavors of lollipop were given to the five tables of monks. The monks were asked to break the candy into small pieces that they were going to eat. Some monks used a pair of scissors to break the candy, others hit the candy on their tables. Regardless of the method, each table eventually had a good supply of candy pieces.

Taste testing

The monks were instructed to taste the candy in two conditions: once with their noses open and once with their noses pinched closed. They were asked if the candy tasted any different in the two conditions. Also, they monks were asked if they could identify the flavor of the candy with their noses pinched closed. As expected, without the sense of smell, the flavor of the candy was dulled and the monks had trouble identifying the correct flavor.