By Prof Carl Philpott

Imagine sitting down to a festive feast and tasting… nothing.

A feast without flavour: The hidden impact of smell and taste loss at Christmas.

For thousands of people in the UK, smell and taste disorders turn Christmas into a season without flavour or aroma.

These conditions are more common than you think. Smell and taste disorders can impact mental health and enjoyment, but it is possible to help sufferers rediscover the magic of Christmas scents and flavours.

When we eat, we smell food on the outside, then smell it again on the inside when it’s in our mouths. This happens alongside taste, which is the sensations of salt, sweet, sour, bitter and umami. The rest of flavour perception comes from our sense of smell, which helps us tell the difference between sage and thyme, or turkey and chicken. So, if we lose our sense of smell, those five basic tastes are all........

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