Eating Without Sight, Smell or Taste

Eating for me is less about taste and more about personal preference. These preferences come from the memory of when I still had my sense of taste. Not being able to see also means that I rely on different factors to decide on what I like and don’t like.


Is it a texture I like or is it a texture I don’t like? For example, I know I won’t like anything that is extremely cheesy.

I also rely on whether something is hard or soft so for instance I don’t like hard apples but I like soft apples.

The difference in texture is also useful when the food is on my plate because I can’t differentiate foods by taste or smell so I rely on the difference in texture when possible.

Is it Acid or is it Sweet?

There are also some things I can differentiate based on their level of acidity or sweetness. I can tell the difference between orange and pineapple juice compared to apple juice because orange juice and pineapple juice are more acidic and apple juice has a lighter taste.

When I eat ice cream I can’t taste the different flavours, for example; chocolate vs vanilla but I would be able to taste the cherries because it’s sweeter and I would taste the mint flavour because it burns a little.

Audible Descriptions

Not being able to see the food also means I rely heavily on hearing descriptions of food and these descriptions can affect my preferences. So I will listen to the names of food as well as what they are made of.

Not being able to see the food doesn’t mean I wouldn’t know what it is. If it’s something you eat on a regular basis, chances are even you can recognise the food if you were blindfolded.

When the food is on my plate, one trick to describe each food’s position is to compare them to the time on a clock. For example, if the corn is on the right side of the plate, say it’s at 3 o’clock, if the chicken is on the left, it’s at 9 o’clock. The top and bottom of the plate would be 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock respectively.

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