FORGET everything you thought you knew about how the human body works because this peculiar party trick might just blow your mind.
Whilst most people associate tasting food with their mouths and tongues, science has revealed a rather unusual alternative method that involves your feet and a plastic bag.
Can you really taste garlic with your feet?
Verdict:
TRUE
You can indeed taste garlic with your feet, thanks to a fascinating chemical compound called allicin.
If you stick your foot in a bag filled with garlic cloves and rub them on the bottom of your foot, you will actually be able to taste garlic after about an hour, according to the American Chemical Society.
It's not because you have secret garlic taste buds on your feet, but because the molecules responsible for garlic's smell can penetrate your skin, get into your blood and travel to your mouth and nose.
The science behind this bizarre phenomenon lies in the unique properties of allicin.
Your skin has oily and watery layers, which makes it good at protecting you from outside molecules, as oil and water don't mix.
However, allicin has properties of both water and oil, allowing it to permeate the skin barrier.
Allicin contains oxygen for hydrogen bonding with watery compounds and hydrocarbon tails for bonding with oily compounds, giving it the ability to slip through your skin and enter your bloodstream.
Interestingly, allicin is only released when garlic is cut, crushed or otherwise disturbed, which is why whole heads of garlic don't stink up the entire produce section at the supermarket.
To try this experiment at home, cut half a clove of fresh garlic and place it in a plastic bag with your bare foot.
Tie the bag around your ankle to contain the smell, then wait patiently.
On average, it takes about 30 minutes to an hour before you'll start to taste garlic in your mouth and smell it with your nose, even though the garlic came nowhere near your face.
The experiment is best conducted in a room that doesn't already smell like garlic to ensure the taste sensation is genuinely coming from absorption through your feet rather than simply inhaling the aroma.
This quirky experiment demonstrates just how interconnected the human body's systems truly are.
And being a Malaysian, I can't but help wonder if you would get the same result if you did the experiment with petai?
References:
2. https://www.popsci.com/you-
