I've read that as soon as the plane reaches cruising altitude, the passenger's ears will hear background noise in the range of 80-85 decibels, depending on how close to the engine you sit.

This noise suppresses our ability to adequately taste.

Which is understandable, because in fact there is nothing natural about a person sitting in a chair above the clouds, right?

However, this same noise affects the perception of different products in different ways.

For example, some foods have umami, a protein flavor that we experience in its purest form in monosodium glutamate.

Have you tried pure monosodium glutamate? I have tried pure monosodium glutamate. One of the markets in Tashkent. It's just insanely delicious. You need iron willpower, like the great Timur, to force yourself to stop “tasting” these white crystals, so deceptively similar to ordinary salt, when you no longer try, but openly eat.

In the West, foods rich in umami flavor are, for example, the international mega hit parmesan. And also... tomatoes.

Accordingly, there are umami in tomato juice. And also - in Worcester sauce, and both of them are part of the correct "Bloody Mary".

Which perplexes 99.99% of compatriots who are sure that tomato juice and vodka are enough for this cocktail, and "Virgin Masha", that is, a non-alcoholic version of Bloody Mary, is just tomato juice; well with celery. But for some kind of sauce? .. never heard of it.

In 2015, researchers at Cornell University were able to figure out how increased aircraft noise affects people's ability to sense umami. Participants sat in a lab and had to rate the strength of a series of clear drinks, each containing one of five base flavors presented in three different concentrations. Each of the solutions was tasted in silence, as well as listening to the recorded noise in the aircraft cabin.

Now, the intensity of the umami solution was rated significantly higher when the background noise was amplified. On the contrary, the sweetness was felt less, and the salty, sour and bitter taste was not affected by the noise.

Based on these results, British Airways introduced an umami-based menu in 2013.

And Richard Branson's company, Virgin Aclantic Airvays, generally asked passengers to choose one of five cubes with different tastes - bitter, sweet, salty, sour and umami - to make the perfect cocktail in the air.

I like this Branson. This is what he wrote in his book that he loves when he is poorly served, because it is at these moments that he understands how not to.

And then the perspicacious reader, of course, will ask, they say, why does loud noise affect some tastes and not others?

And I will answer you - I do not know. And science, it seems, is not up to date either.

So, it seems, says a character in some New Year's movie. "Carnival Night" or what? Never looked.

Be that as it may, the main thing remains: loud noise weakens the sweet and salty taste, but at the same time enhances the taste of umami.

Based on this logic, Bloody Mary should be served in heaven. But whoever drank wonderful cappuccino coffee with hot cinnamon on earth - the road to another place, to a completely different place.

Yes, right there. That same word.