Is There a Faculty of Taste in Food?

A little boy consumed clam chowder that was so hot it sealed his osophigus shut. Doctors created what they call a fistula, a hole in ha stomach where he could literally load in food the wa way you load in boxes in the trunk of your car. He would always chew and taste his food first and spit it into a tube that was connected to his stomach. And he said if he didn't do that, it was like the food just went right through him. This is telling us that that experience of tasting food isn't frivolous and disconnected from nutrition. It's essential to how the body processes, how it metabilizes food.