Tuesdays mean Taco Tuesday in my house.
While I’m personally quite fond of spicy stuff, I also have young kids at home, and that means I tend to take a walk on the mild side on taco night.
Maybe I could have the best of both worlds if I were hanging with the researchers at Washington State University, who just developed an electric tongue.
They call it an e-tongue, but I’ve spent too much time on the internet to start using that nickname.
Anyway, the researchers, grad student Courtney Schlossareck and advisor Carolyn Ross, found that the virtual tongue system could better distinguish the spiciness of the foods it sampled than a human tongue could.
And they say it could keep judging spiciness for longer periods of time.
That’s a step up from human taste buds, which get tired after a certain amount of heat and can’t really measure spiciness afterward.
But the electric tongue, for all its ability, will forever miss out on the chance to post one of those YouTube videos where its friends give it a ghost pepper and then record its reactions.
It’s just not gonna be the same.
If you really want to make Taco Tuesday feel special, then how about a trip to Tio’s Tacos in Riverside, California?
The food is memorable, but the decor is unforgettable: the owner, Martin Sanchez, has created more than 100 folk art sculptures out of recycled material.
He’s got 30 foot high statues, water sculptures, even a recycled R2D2 and C3PO from Star Wars.
No electric tongue yet, but never say never.
An electric tongue can handle more spicy foods than you can (Science Daily)
Tio’s Tacos In Riverside Hides A Vast Outdoor Sculpture Museum (LAist)
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