You might order the same dish from the same place, or cook it with the exact same ingredients, yet something feels different every time. Your favourite food rarely tastes identical — and the reason has less to do with the recipe and more to do with you. Taste is not fixed. It changes depending on your mood, your energy, your senses, and even what happened to you that day.
The first culprit is your brain. Flavour isn’t just taste; it’s a blend of memory, expectation, and emotion. When you’re excited or hungry, your brain boosts the reward signals, making food taste richer. On stressful or tired days, the same dish may feel dull because your neurons don’t fire with the same enthusiasm.
Smell also plays a major role. About 80% of flavour comes from aroma, and your sense of smell changes constantly. A mild cold, allergies, weather changes, or even the humidity in the air can soften or sharpen aromas, subtly shifting how food tastes.
Your taste buds themselves adapt. After eating sweet foods, your favourite dessert might feel less sweet. After spicy food, a mild dish may suddenly taste bland. Even the temperature of your mouth — slightly warmer or cooler than usual — changes how flavours unfold.
And then there’s memory. The first time you tasted your favourite food, your brain created a powerful emotional imprint. Every new experience is compared to that memory — which is why the exact same dish may feel more nostalgic one day and more ordinary the next.
Your favourite food isn’t changing. You are — moment by moment, mood by mood. And that’s what makes every bite feel new.