I’m cis-synesthetic myself, but I’m curious if there are other synesthetes here! (trans or cis)
I have a lot, but… I can taste concepts in foods, such as basil being the original creation of a theme park, miso soup being certain new age music, and mozzarella is just the muppets. I can also see pain or touch. Also emotions-texture, and a few others.
That is so cool!! I’ve never heard of that type before (taste-concept)
Is there any conceptual coherency between groups of tastes? Such as sweet, salt, and sour tastes having similar concepts respectively, or is it random?
It’s not entirely random, but the web is complex. For example, not all soups are anything to do with religion and new age music- Soups with tomatoes, beans, and similar will more likely be something else, but flavors similar to wonton soup, miso soup, and (sometimes, depending on the chef) hot and sour soups will definitely fit this. I’ve yet to identify what it is that makes these all click, but I’ve experienced similar concepts with many foods that have (star) anise in them. Milks and Teas have their own concepts, but milk teas can share concepts between these two sections, or make an entirely new one. Usually, salty foods deal with more profound or complex concepts, whereas savory-sweet foods are concepts linked more so to emotion (often attractions), and just sweet foods are usually fun, bubbly, or calmer in nature. Sour foods always have a bit of ‘girl with a gun’ vibes, almost.
Wow, fascinating!! *Resists the urge to ask a bazillion things because IDK if I’m being annoying* /lh
You can if you want. It’s not annoying to me. /gen
Okay! Do bitter tastes have similar concepts? What about burned things? People say those are supposed to taste bitter, but I don’t experience them as such personally.
Also for some reason my brain really wants to know what concept banana is. 😳
Oh I just thought of another question, does the concept change based on how it’s prepared? For examlple hot vs. iced coffee, regular banana vs. bana milkshake or banana flavoured candies, etc.
Bananas are a hard one, they don’t give (too much) of a concept besides older musicians and small business owners, but it’s a slight and not strong connection. And yes, it does matter, temperature plays a part in it! For example my mind could connect cold pizza to FNAF VHS (this one goes both ways taste-concept/concept-taste), but it couldn’t connect hot/fresh pizza to it. Hot coffee actually makes me feel as though I’ve gone back in time (not like nostalgia, it feels real and unnerving) to when I was at my worst point in my ED. Banana candy has a stronger connection to small business owners, usually old ones, more connection than actual bananas. Not sure about burned or bitter stuff, since I avoid eating both.
Thank you! Oh that makes a lot of sense, lol. I avoid bitter as well, it’s bad times for my tastebuds. Cold Pizza and FNAF sounds very correct to me for some reason.
Okay two more question, can food texture alter the concept? If you have a food with lots of flavours, do they combine into one multifaceted concept or individual concepts?
smell-touch! Every smell has some sort of texture with it. Pepper is like those spiky massage balls, and malibu is oiled glass for example.
Okay, radqueers and aligned are officially the coolest Synesthetes. Y’all have such interesting and obscure types!! 🤩
For further clarification: Synesthesia has been one of my special interests for years, and I’ve talked to many Synesthetes, but I’ve never met a smell-touch or a taste-concept before, and now I meet both of them in the same place, which is exciting. All Synesthesias are awesome of course.
I don’t know the proper names for them but here some stuff I exprience which I’m pretty sure is synesthesia -I associate people with scents.e.g My dad is wood/tree smell, my sister is spicy food smell, I smell of lemons(which is werid bc I’m allergic to lemons lol)
-I can sort of smell and/or taste things by thinking about them.
-I can smell things through the screen, like if I’m watching tv and somebody is eating a cake, I can smell the cake(and sometimes taste it too)
-Emotions have colours
-Music has like emotions and sometimes imagery/colour
-Also I heard misophonia is a type of synesthesia and I have that.
-Might be others I’m forgetting
Also one of my headmates is trans-pansynesthete meaning they want all types of synesthesia!
Awesome!! Trans-pansynesthesia is very rad.
- Person(ality)-Smell is a known type!
- The second and third ones are commonly referred to as manifestations of Hyperphantasia, but personally I believe they could be a type of Mirror Synesthesia. I can smell/taste/feel/hear/(see) things by looking/thinking about them as well!
- Emotion-Colour is a known type!
- Ooh this might be multiple types. Chromethesia and Auditory-Visual are known types. People are of course being gate-keepy about Music-Emotion as a Syn Type because ‘everyone feels emotional from music’. Anyway, screw that, Music-Emotion should an can totally be a Syn Type.
- Yes, it is sometimes categorized as one, and it makes sense. I either have misophonia and/or just autistic auditory sensitivity/overstimulation, either way I feel your pain 🤝.
