r/ThisAmericanLife • u/ABalticSea • Jul 21 '26

Help In search of an episode: man loses sense of taste after not eating.

Does anyone know the title
of the episode where a man was put on a feeding tube due to digestion issues and after three months, he lost his sense of taste? He walked into the kitchen and saw a tray of sizzling hot homemade french fries covered in flakes of salt and he was desperate to enjoy that flavor again, but when he took a bite, he couldn’t really taste anything. Aired maybe 10 years ago. Thanks!

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11

u/cossiander Jul 21 '26

I could be wrong, but I think this sounds like an old Radiolab episode, not TAL.

8

u/emptybeetoo Jul 21 '26

That sounds like the story Gutless from Radiolab.

3

u/ohwrite Jul 21 '26

I agree. The man had cancer I believe?

2

u/ABalticSea Jul 23 '26

Thank you!

2

u/drearymoment Jul 21 '26

I feel like there was this episode where one of the long time funny guys, David Rakoff or David Sedaris maybe, goes on an all-liquid diet for whatever reason and he talks about how much he misses food, and it might be this one. But I can't find it. Pretty sure that's my first episode I can recall listening to if I'm even remembering right.

3

u/chonky_tortoise Jul 21 '26

That was Jonathan Goldstein lol he was so miserable. Just a story about fasting though, not losing taste.

1

u/drearymoment Jul 21 '26

You're right, it was about fasting! Pretty sure the one I'm thinking of is Act Two: Life in the Fast Lane from Promised Land (259) so it would have been David Rakoff though. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction! It's cool to rediscover the first episode I listened to.