Do you taste more with your mouth open? The surprising science of flavor

December 15, 2025 •

5 min read

According to researchers at Oxford University, chewing with your mouth open can actually make food taste better by releasing more flavor-rich volatile compounds into the nasal cavity. This finding challenges conventional table manners and reveals the fascinating, science-backed reason that the question, 'Do you taste more with your mouth open?', is so intriguing. The answer, surprisingly, is yes.

Quick Summary

Chewing with your mouth open enhances food flavor by increasing the release of aromatic compounds. This process, known as retronasal olfaction, allows smells to travel from the mouth to the nose, combining with taste to create a richer overall sensory perception. The combination of taste and smell is critical for experiencing complex flavors beyond the basic tastes.

Key Points

Retronasal Olfaction: Chewing with your mouth open releases more aromatic compounds, which travel to the nasal cavity from the back of the throat via retronasal olfaction, enhancing flavor perception.
Smell Dominates Flavor: A large portion of what we perceive as 'flavor' is actually derived from our sense of smell, not just the basic tastes detected by the tongue.
Distinguishing Taste from Flavor: Taste is limited to five basic sensations, while flavor is a comprehensive, multi-sensory experience that includes taste, smell, texture, temperature, and even sound.
The 'Cold' Effect: When your nose is congested, the pathway for aromatic compounds to reach olfactory neurons is blocked, which is why food tastes bland, demonstrating the crucial role of smell.
Social Etiquette vs. Sensory Experience: While open-mouthed chewing is considered impolite, the scientific reason behind its effectiveness highlights a conflict between learned social norms and the natural biological processes that maximize our sensory enjoyment of food.
Mindful Alternatives: If open-mouthed chewing isn't an option, focusing on mindful eating and engaging other senses like texture, sound, and temperature can also help enhance the overall food experience.

The Surprising Power of Retronasal Olfaction

For most of our lives, we are taught that chewing with your mouth closed is a matter of basic etiquette. The unpleasant sounds and sight of open-mouthed chewing are considered rude. However, the scientific reason why this behavior enhances our experience of food is rooted in a fundamental part of our biology: the relationship between taste and smell. When you chew with your mouth open, you allow more air to circulate over the food inside your mouth. This action helps to release volatile organic compounds—the tiny molecules responsible for a food's characteristic aroma. As you chew, these compounds travel from the back of your throat, up a pathway called the nasopharynx, and into your nasal cavity. This is the process of retronasal olfaction. Here, they are detected by thousands of olfactory sensory neurons, which send signals to your brain that are interpreted as a more complex and intense flavor. This contrasts with orthonasal olfaction, which is the process of smelling external aromas through your nostrils.

A classic example that demonstrates the power of retronasal olfaction is eating when you have a cold. With a stuffy nose, your nasal passages are blocked by mucus, and the aromatic compounds from your food can't reach your olfactory neurons effectively. This is why a delicious meal might seem bland or tasteless, and you can only perceive the basic tastes (sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami) detected by your taste buds. Your taste buds are still fully functional, but without the contribution of smell, the rich tapestry of flavor is lost.

The Difference Between Taste and Flavor

Many people use the terms 'taste' and 'flavor' interchangeably, but scientifically, they are distinct concepts. Understanding this distinction is key to comprehending why chewing with your mouth open can make such a difference.

The Elements of Flavor

Our overall perception of flavor is a multi-sensory experience that involves several components.

Taste (Gustation): This is what your tongue detects, limited to five basic categories: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami. The taste buds on your tongue are responsible for this perception.
Smell (Olfaction): Both orthonasal and retronasal olfaction contribute to flavor. Smell is responsible for thousands of different nuances that make a lemon distinct from a lime, even though both are sour.
Touch (Trigeminal Sensation): This includes the texture of food, such as the crunchiness of an apple or the smoothness of a sauce. These sensations are detected by nerve endings in the mouth.
Temperature: Whether food is hot or cold also affects its perceived flavor. A change in temperature can alter the release of volatile compounds.
Sound: The sound food makes when you chew it—the satisfying crunch of a potato chip or a carrot stick—can also enhance enjoyment. An open mouth amplifies these sounds, adding another layer to the experience.

By opening your mouth while you chew, you are actively engaging more of these sensory inputs, particularly retronasal olfaction and sound, resulting in a more intense and complete flavor experience. It's an interesting case where breaking a social rule can lead to a more biologically fulfilling outcome.

Taste vs. Flavor Comparison


Aspect	Taste (Gustation)	Flavor (Multisensory)
Primary Sensory Organ	Tongue	Nose (Olfaction) + Tongue (Taste)
Sensation Range	Limited to 5 basic tastes (Sweet, Salty, Sour, Bitter, Umami)	Thousands of different aroma combinations, creating rich nuances
Dependence on Smell	Not dependent; basic taste signals remain intact	Highly dependent; without smell, flavor is severely diminished and often bland
Input Mechanism	Tastants dissolved in saliva interact with taste receptors on the tongue	Volatile aromatic compounds travel from the mouth to the nose during chewing (retronasal)
Overall Experience	A simple, direct chemical sensation	A complex, integrated perception including smell, taste, texture, and sound

How to Enhance Flavor Without Forgetting Your Manners

While chewing with your mouth open may be scientifically beneficial, it's not always socially appropriate. Fortunately, there are other ways to enhance your enjoyment of food by leveraging the same sensory principles.

Mindful Eating

One effective technique is mindful eating. By paying full attention to the experience of eating, you can consciously focus on all the sensory inputs. Concentrate on the food's texture, its temperature, the sounds it makes, and especially its aroma as you chew. While you'll still be chewing with your mouth closed, deliberate attention can help engage your retronasal sense more acutely.

Engage All Senses

Temperature: Consider how temperature affects the flavor profile of your food. A hot stew will release different aromas than a cold salad, and the contrast can be enjoyable.
Texture: Pay attention to the variety of textures in your meal. Adding crunchy elements like nuts or croutons, or smooth elements like a creamy sauce, can introduce a new dimension to your experience.
Sound: Savor the sound of your own chewing. It's a key part of the experience, and even with your mouth closed, you can focus on the audible cues that indicate crispiness or softness.
Plating: A visually appealing meal can enhance your enjoyment even before you take the first bite. Our brain begins to form expectations based on what we see.

The Future of Flavor

Understanding the interplay between taste and smell has profound implications for the food industry and culinary arts. Chefs can create dishes that maximize the release of volatile compounds, and product manufacturers can develop new ways to enhance flavor perceptions. From scented water bottles that create a flavor illusion to carefully orchestrated multi-sensory dining experiences, the science of retronasal olfaction continues to be explored. This evolving field is a testament to the fact that our relationship with food is far more complex than a simple function of taste buds.

In conclusion, while manners might dictate chewing with a closed mouth, the science is clear: allowing air to circulate during chewing via an open mouth can lead to a more pronounced and complete flavor experience. It's a classic case of science revealing a hidden truth that challenges social convention. Ultimately, whether you embrace this scientific insight at your next meal or stick to polite society, understanding the incredible relationship between smell and taste can provide a newfound appreciation for the complex journey of flavor.

Conclusion

The perception of food flavor is a complex, multi-sensory process where smell (specifically retronasal olfaction) plays a significantly larger role than pure taste alone. Research from institutions like Oxford University has provided compelling evidence that chewing with your mouth open enhances this process by increasing the circulation of aromatic compounds to the nasal cavity. This amplifies the sensory signals sent to the brain, resulting in a more intense and detailed flavor perception. The experience of a bland meal during a cold serves as a powerful illustration of this phenomenon. While conventional table manners discourage open-mouthed chewing, alternatives like mindful eating and focusing on other sensory inputs such as texture, temperature, and sound can also help to elevate the dining experience. Understanding the distinction between the five basic tastes and the much broader concept of flavor ultimately enriches our appreciation for the food we consume and the biological mechanisms behind its enjoyment.

NIH MedlinePlus Magazine has more information on taste and smell disorders.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, according to scientific research, most notably from Oxford University, eating with your mouth open helps release more volatile organic compounds, which are the aromatic molecules responsible for a food's flavor. These molecules are then detected by the olfactory receptors in your nose, leading to a more intense flavor perception.

When your nose is congested, your nasal passages are blocked, preventing the aromatic compounds from your food from reaching the olfactory sensory neurons at the back of your nose. This impairs your sense of smell, which is a major component of flavor perception, causing food to taste bland.

Taste refers to the five basic sensations your tongue can detect: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami. Flavor is a more complex, multisensory experience that combines these basic tastes with aroma (smell), as well as sensations of touch, temperature, and texture.

Yes, mindful eating is an effective alternative. By focusing on the food's aroma, texture, temperature, and the sounds it makes as you chew, you can heighten your sensory perception and enhance your enjoyment of the meal without breaking social etiquette.

Retronasal olfaction is the process where aromatic molecules from food travel from the mouth, through the nasopharynx (the channel connecting the back of your throat to your nose), and into the nasal cavity, where they stimulate olfactory neurons. This is distinct from orthonasal olfaction, which is smelling through your nostrils.

A significant amount. Many experts suggest that a large percentage, potentially up to 80%, of what we perceive as flavor actually comes from our sense of smell. Without smell, our perception of food is limited to only the five basic tastes.

Yes, other senses such as touch (texture), temperature, and hearing (the sounds of chewing crunchy foods) all contribute to the overall experience of flavor. The brain integrates all these signals to create a complete sensory picture.