As I scroll through cooking videos online, I come across a Cajun blackened shrimp recipe that looks absolutely mouthwatering. The presenter describes it so vividly: juicy, plump, smoky, with a burst of spices. Although I haven’t tasted the dish, I can almost imagine its rich flavor. But what if we could recreate that exact experience from the digital world directly in our mouths? Thanks to a new breakthrough, we’re one step closer to making that a reality.

A device smaller than a postage stamp is capable of mimicking primary tastes like salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and savory (or umami), opening the door to experiencing food digitally. This reusable gadget mixes chemicals that represent these fundamental tastes and then delivers them to the tongue in gel form. Developed by researchers at Ohio State University, the system features a gum-like strip connected to a liquid reservoir. It works by releasing taste components in a gel, which then interacts with the user’s taste buds. The device is wireless and includes a sensor that helps regulate the precise chemical blend.

In one demonstration, a person in San Francisco dipped the sensor into lemonade, and the taste was transferred to participants in Ohio in real-time, who experienced the simulated flavor directly through the device.

While complex flavors—like those of a fried egg—remain difficult to reproduce, this technology brings us closer to a future where virtual and augmented reality could involve not just sight and sound, but taste as well. This could enhance the immersive nature of video games, allowing players to “taste” the virtual environments they explore.

“This will help people connect in virtual spaces in never-before-seen ways,” said study author Jinghua Li in a press release. “This concept is here, and it’s a great first step towards becoming a small part of the metaverse.”

Beyond gaming, the technology could also benefit people who have lost their sense of taste, including individuals with long COVID or traumatic brain injuries.

Taste is a complex experience. Our taste buds, equipped to detect five main taste categories, send electrical signals to the brain when we eat, and these signals blend into a unique flavor profile. Whether it’s the bitterness of coffee or the sweetness of an orange, our sense of taste helps us experience food in rich and nuanced ways. But taste doesn’t exist in isolation—it’s closely tied to our sense of smell, the texture of food, and even memories and emotions. A spoonful of comfort food, for instance, may transport you back to your childhood.

Recreating taste digitally is challenging because of this multi-sensory nature. While virtual and augmented reality have made strides in integrating visual and audio cues, adding smell and taste to these experiences could make them even more immersive. The idea of adding sensory dimensions to media isn’t new. Nearly a century ago, a concept called “Smell-O-Vision” was introduced to bring scents into movie theaters, a technology still in use today in 4DX theaters. More recently, at CES 2025, Sony showcased a trailer for The Last of Us in which players could even smell the apocalyptic world of the game.

Taste, however, remains one of the trickier senses to replicate. Earlier attempts to stimulate taste buds involved electrical zaps to the tongue, which could elicit basic tastes but weren’t the most comfortable or practical solution. A Hong Kong team also developed a lollipop-like device that could produce nine basic tastes through food-safe gels, but holding something in your mouth while gaming for extended periods wasn’t ideal.

The new device, called e-Taste, offers a more refined solution. It’s made up of two key components: a sensing platform that analyzes the taste profile of a food or drink and an actuator that delivers a mixture of chemicals that simulate the sampled flavor.

The actuator is a small cube about the size of a shirt button, paired with a gum-like strip that hangs on the lower teeth. The cube contains separate chambers for each of the five primary tastes—such as glucose for sweet or citric acid for sour. When activated by an electrical zap, the cube pumps tiny amounts of liquid chemicals onto the gel strip, which then blends them together before delivering the mixture to the user’s tongue. Each release is small enough—about the size of a drop of water—to activate the taste buds.

Once the sensor detects a food or drink’s flavor profile, it wirelessly transmits the data to the actuator, which then releases the corresponding chemical blend. This process can last for up to 45 minutes, giving users a prolonged “virtual tasting” experience.

To test the device’s effectiveness, the team trained e-Taste to replicate the flavor profiles of various foods. In one experiment, 10 volunteers were asked to identify foods after using the device. The results were promising: around 90% of participants could correctly identify lemonade and assess its sourness, while most were able to pinpoint the taste of cake. However, more complex, umami-rich dishes—like fried eggs or fish stew—proved more difficult to mimic.

This isn’t a flaw in the device; rather, it highlights how subjective and personal our tastes can be. Factors such as spice tolerance and personal preferences affect how we experience flavors. Additionally, the absence of visual cues or smells in the experiment made it harder for participants to fully engage with the experience. As one person noted, tasting coffee through the device without seeing a coffee cup or smelling the brew led to some confusion. It turns out, our perception of flavor is deeply influenced by the color and smell of food.

The research team is actively exploring ways to incorporate these additional senses to make the experience more accurate and immersive. They’re also working on making the device smaller and more practical for everyday use.

While e-Taste was originally developed to enhance gaming experiences, its potential stretches far beyond that. Imagine being able to sample the taste of exotic dishes from around the world without leaving your home or having the ability to taste food while shopping online. The device could also be useful for medical applications, such as diagnosing conditions where taste is impaired, including Alzheimer’s disease and viral infections like COVID-19. And with further development, it might even offer a way to restore taste for individuals who have lost it.

The future of digital taste technology is just beginning, and it promises to expand our sensory experiences in ways we’ve only dreamed of. Whether enhancing virtual reality, revolutionizing online shopping, or improving health care, the possibilities are vast. One thing is certain: the way we experience food and flavor may never be the same.

By Impact Lab