Final answer:
The traditional four senses of taste are sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. These have been expanded to include a fifth recognized taste called umami, which means savory. There is also speculative research indicating a potential sixth taste for fats or lipids.
Step-by-step explanation:
Historically, it was taught that there were four basic senses of taste: sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. Recent scientific research has expanded this list. The fifth taste, umami, was recognized in the mid-1980s and is often described as savory. Umami is the taste associated with the flavor of monosodium glutamate, which is commonly found in many foods as a flavor enhancer. In addition, there is emerging evidence suggesting the existence of a sixth taste related to the detection of fats or lipids.
Taste cells within the taste buds, located on the papillae in the mouth, are responsible for detecting these tastes. When we eat, tastants are dissolved in saliva and then interact with the taste receptors on these cells. Each of the five primary tastes has its own receptor type that responds specifically to that taste sensation.