--- title: Thanksgiving Day 2015: Why Your Nose Will Make the Meal description: A cold could be your worst enemy on Thanksgiving canonical: https://time.com/4124485/nose-smell-taste-thanksgiving/ author: Salima Koroma article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-23T21:23:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-30T11:55:38.278Z article:section: Science og:title: Why Your Nose Will Make or Break Thanksgiving og:description: A cold is your worst enemy on Thanksgiving og:url: https://time.com/4124485/nose-smell-taste-thanksgiving/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta630ee8c6d4f87c6/698872743c16393d3b45adff/gettyimages-495378252.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 495378252 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Your Nose Will Make or Break Thanksgiving twitter:description: A cold is your worst enemy on Thanksgiving twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta630ee8c6d4f87c6/698872743c16393d3b45adff/gettyimages-495378252.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Your Nose Will Make or Break Thanksgiving by [Salima Koroma](https://time.com/author/salima-koroma/) and [Ainissa Ramirez](https://time.com/author/ainissa-ramirez/) Nov 23, 2015 9:23 PM UTC  Thanksgiving poultry Thanksgiving poultryshironosov—Getty Images/iStockphoto by [Salima Koroma](https://time.com/author/salima-koroma/) and [Ainissa Ramirez](https://time.com/author/ainissa-ramirez/) Nov 23, 2015 9:23 PM UTC Ah, Thanksgiving. Undoubtedly, what many of us will be most thankful for is the food. Whatever it is we choose to indulge in, whether its take-out or a home-cooked meal, the holiday is a time to kick back, loosen our belts, and settle into the comfort of food with loved ones. But there’s no bigger Thanksgiving grinch than a cold stopping you from tasting and smelling the full extent of your grub. Really, it’s not our mouths allowing us to experience the different flavors, but our noses. Our mouths can only taste umami, fat, sweet, salty, bitter, and sour, and it’s our noses that fill out the experience. They’re incredible sensors that can taste up to 1,200 different flavors. Watch materials scientist Ainissa Ramirez explain just how our noses help us taste the flavors that make Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4124485/nose-smell-taste-thanksgiving/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4124485/nose-smell-taste-thanksgiving/"},"headline":"Why Your Nose Will Make or Break Thanksgiving","datePublished":"2015-11-23T21:23:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-30T11:55:38.278Z","description":"A cold could be your worst enemy on Thanksgiving","url":"https://time.com/4124485/nose-smell-taste-thanksgiving/","keywords":["Food","Science topic","Smell","Thanksgiving"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta630ee8c6d4f87c6/698872743c16393d3b45adff/gettyimages-495378252.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Salima Koroma","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/salima-koroma/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Ainissa Ramirez","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ainissa-ramirez/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta630ee8c6d4f87c6/698872743c16393d3b45adff/gettyimages-495378252.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"495378252","caption":"495378252","creditText":"shironosov—Getty Images/iStockphoto","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4124485/nose-smell-taste-thanksgiving/","name":"Why Your Nose Will Make or Break Thanksgiving"}}]}] ```