Taste (in the mouth)

Those of you who have eaten with me in restaurants know that I can occasionally answer questions about the spicing of a meal from just a couple of bites. Mostly, it's because I trained my palate at a relatively young age as I was learning to cook. I also have a difficult time with artificial sweeteners, though. Saccharine has a dirty aftertaste. Inverted sugars like Splenda taste like evil. Aspartame is not sweet at all and a little funky tasting.

From a few things I read, this might mean that I was a "supertaster" -- someone who is very sensitive to flavors on the tongue, especially bitter.

I paid the $4 and sent off for my test. You put a little strip of paper on your tongue for a few seconds and see what it tastes like to you. Normal tasters find it mildly bitter and non-tasters find it bland. Guess what? I am a supertaster. It was so bitter I could barely stand it and now, ten minutes later, I still want to shave my tongue to get the flavor out of my mouth.

I suppose it's good to know that my secret superpower is a mixture of training and innate talent, but right now I just want the taste to go away.