Givaudan, the secret flavor factory : The New Yorker
Nice article about “flavorists” and how they are searching for “white areas” of unplumbed taste. Appears the tongue just gets the basic things (sweet, salty, bitter, sour & “umani” from <30 receptors) while smelling the volatile compounds in food (using >300 olfactory receptors) accounts for most of their taste.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/11/23/091123fa_fact_khatchadourian