Well, it depends on how you define the terms "taste" and "smell." The way most people use "taste," to mean the sensations experienced when eating a food or drinking a beverage, smell is definitely a large portion of the experience. If, however, you define the terms "taste" and "smell" more scientifically, so that taste refers to the sensations elicited by stimulation of the taste receptor cells and smell refers to the stimulation of olfactory neuron, then these are independent senses, both of which play an important role in the experiencing of foods and beverages. A more scientifically accurate statement would be that "Most of flavor is smell," where flavor is defined as the combination of sensations experienced when eating or drinking, especially, taste, smell, and chemesthesis. Why can't you taste anything when you have a cold? Well, as I explained in the answer above, this depends a bit on the way you define "taste." When you have a cold, you tend to get congested (a stuffed-up nose). When this happens, air stops flowing past the olfactory receptors, which means that odor compounds cannot reach them and your sense of smell will not work. So, when you have a cold, your sense of smell stops working. Your sense of taste, which arises from the stimulation of taste receptor cells is usually unaffected, but since you can't smell, the flavor of foods and beverages is definitely altered. Are there four basic tastes? You may have been taught that all we “really taste” is sweet, sour, salty, and bitter, but this is in fact not an established fact. There are many prominent researchers who believe in the existence of a fifth “basic taste,” called “umami.” This taste is associated with the taste of MSG (monosodium glutamate, the primary ingredient in AccentTM) and is described as a “brothy” or “savory” taste. There are still others who believe that the entire concept of basic tastes is flawed and feel that the evidence supporting this idea is based more upon language limitations than on perceptual or physiological ones. For a more extensive treatment of the existence of basic tastes, you might want to take a look at: Delwiche, J. F. (1996). Are there 'basic' tastes? Trends in Food Science and Technology, Vol. 7, pp. 411-415. View the abstract Is there a fifth basic taste? There are many prominent researchers who believe in the existence of a fifth “basic taste,” called “umami.” This taste is associated with the taste of MSG (monosodium glutamate, the primary ingredient in AccentTM) and is described as a “brothy” or “savory” taste. Although many researchers initially argued that its unique properties arose from odor or mouthfeel characteristics, it is now widely accepted as a true gustatory stimulus