Why 'Mouthfeel' Isn't Just A Pretentious Way To Say 'Taste'

A lot of food talk seems to have a tinge of underlying pretension. Chefs, foodies, and, yes, food writers, seem to have a secret language when discussing what they consume. While these terms may have a pretentious or amusing connotation to the outside ear, they each have a specific definition, and they serve a particular function to describe the characteristics of a food or beverage.

While taste describes the detection of certain flavor qualities in food, mouthfeel refers to the physical ways a food or beverage affects all areas of the mouth – from the lips to the tongue, all the way to the salivary glands. "Mouthfeel" is a term that may sound superfluous — everything one consumes is felt in the mouth, after all. However, it is a crucial descriptor that distinguishes different foods and beverages.

For instance, two glasses of different Bordeaux red wines may have similar taste profiles — dark fruit, earthy, slightly oaky — but a difference in quality may come down to the mouthfeel. The better Bordeaux might have more structure and body, with the tannins in the wine giving it a "dry" feel. These characteristics encourage the drinker to savor and indulge in the beverage. On the other hand, a wine with the same taste yet of lesser quality may not leave such a lasting, appreciable impression on the mouth. Sometimes, an interesting, engaging, or unexpected mouthfeel can contribute to the overall quality of a dish or drink — such as the warm, gooey center hidden inside a molten chocolate lava cake. On the flip side, sometimes a straightforward and consistent mouthfeel is more preferable. An example is an emulsification like homemade aioli, which has a reassuringly creamy and luxuriously silky mouthfeel in every bite.

To demonstrate the connection between mouthfeel and flavor, it's important to differentiate flavor from taste. Taste defines the ways in which what you eat chemically interacts with your tastebuds – whether it's sweet, salty, sour, bitter, or hard-to-describe umami. Mouthfeel, unlike taste, includes the physical ways something we consume touches the mouth. But taste and mouthfeel are just two contributing factors to the flavor of food and drink.

While many think taste and flavor are interchangeable synonyms, flavor is the combination of several factors, including smell, that we use to assess a food or beverage. Though mouthfeel may sound like a pretentious foodie term, it adds to the overall flavor of a dish, and significantly affects how we feel about what we eat and drink. 

Take, for example, a simple bowl of cereal. The fresh crunch ushered away by creamy milk is satisfying, and leaves us wanting more. A bowl that's been left too long with soggy clusters, however, is off-putting to most eaters, as the sogginess from the cereal does not pair well with the milk in texture. Likewise, we relish biting into a crisp apple, but feel disappointed if it turns out powdery. That's all down to mouthfeel.