Here’s how romance can affect your sense of taste

Could you ever be with someone who hated your favorite food? Maybe you don’t have to worry about that …

Studies on romantic relationships have shown that being in a long-term relationship can affect us in surprising ways — we can develop similar facial features to our partner and often have similar levels of health. Now, a new study published in Appetite has shown that being in a long-term relationship might affect the way we taste food.

The researchers looked at 100 couples who had been together anywhere from three months to 45 years, and tested each individual’s taste preferences in five categories: sweet, salty, sour, umami, and bitter. Each person ate samples of food in each category and ranked their favorites. Smell preferences were ranked using a range of scents, including smoked meat, leather, and eucalyptus.

Sure enough, the longer a couple had been together, the more likely they were to share the same preferences.

So is having similar preferences a good indicator of compatibility from the get-go? Or does romance affect the way we taste food? Sadly, it’s not clear. Previous studies have shown that the more similarly two people smell the world, the more likely they are to be compatible. However, environmental factors may also play a role here: The longer a couple has been together, the more likely it is that they are exposed to the same olfactory and gustatory stimuli, which could lead to similar preferences.

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