Dear Susan,

Cats aren’t usually big veggie-eaters. But working with humans means that I get to taste all kinds of new delicacies—like Brussels sprouts.

I talked about food preferences with my friend Carolyn Ross. She’s a chemist and food scientist at Washington State University.

She told me that some people are extra sensitive to how foods taste. They’re called supertasters.

“Supertasters actually have more taste buds,” Ross said. “We’ve found that people who are supertasters are particularly sensitive to bitterness.”

Bitterness really strikes at a supertaster’s fungiform papillae. Those are the mushroom-shaped lumps on your tongue that house your taste buds. Because of … » More …

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