You taste with your tongue. The top of your tongue is covered with small bumps that we call taste buds. Taste buds are made up of 50 - 100 taste cells. Taste cells sense sweet, salty, sour or bitter tastes.

How it works:

When you eat something, food dissolves in the saliva in your mouth. Dissolved food enters a taste bud and tiny bits of food touch taste cells. The taste cells sense tastes and send signals to the brain.

Your sense of taste is important because it helps you choose and enjoy food. Your tongue helps to keep you safe. It warns you when foods have gone bad so that you don't eat them.