You probably came across the tongue taste map, a theory that states that different sections of the tongue are exclusively correlated with different basic tastes – sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami. However, this idea is a misconception with no basis in modern physiology. 

The tongue map is thought to have originated from a misinterpretation of a 1901 study, which noted minor variations in taste sensitivity across the tongue. However, modern research, including work by Virginia Collings in 1974, shows these variations are negligible. Moreover, it is not the tongue that determines the taste, but rather the brain!

The tongue has up to 10,000 taste buds spread across it, and each of these has 100 taste receptor cells which respond to different substances in food. Until recently, it was believed that these taste cells would detect one of the five basic flavours and then send a signal to our brain that tells us what we’ve tasted.

However, we now know that each individual taste is sensed by a unique set of brain cells that are located in the brain’s cortex, which interestingly generates a map of taste qualities in the brain. So really and truly, the taste map is not in the tongue, but in the brain.