more on anosmia

LexisNexis Ultimate Rewards Framed Research: "Undaunted, Mr. Weinstock slowly began orienting himself to his reconfigured palate. ''Thai, Japanese and fruit were O.K., but almost anything else tasted off,'' he said. ''Anything with a sauce or a melding of flavors tasted muddy and schmaltzy. Processed foods like candy, soda and toothpaste were very chemical-y, almost astringent.''

Ms. Stevens, a freelance journalist who occasionally writes film reviews for The New York Times, helped out by setting up blind taste tests for Mr. Weinstock. She primarily used ice creams and sorbets, since they all had similar, neutral textures. Slowly but steadily, Mr. Weinstock showed progress: At first he couldn't tell chocolate ice cream from vanilla, but later on he successfully distinguished between the relatively similar coffee and dulce de leche. Both he and Ms. Stevens remember that as a milestone.

''My theory was that immersion therapy would help -- lots of stimulus, lots of flavors,'' Ms. Stevens said. ''Besides, the alternative seemed so grim. At one point I found this anosmia web site where people posted messages like, 'There's more to food than flavor -- there's still texture and color and temperature!' And that just seemed depressing, like, 'Ah, here's a red cube, and it's tepid, oh boy!' The taste tests made me feel like we were working on something, making progress.''"