Welcome Karen. There is more to taste than than just eating. It it involves memory, sight, hearing, scent, texture, and the 5 taste senses, sweet, sour, bitter, salt, and umami, so to get the most out of the taste experience, try as many aspects as possible should be utilized.

Radiation damages, sometimes permanently, the salivary glands, mainly the parotid gland that produces thin saliva. Saliva is intracal in taste, so in time, salivary function may return, and other glans may compensate for the parotid gland not producing enough. Stimulating saliva production, may improve taste, and there are ways to help this from medications, to drinking lemon water, water, chewing gum, smelling lemons, even looking at food, smelling it cook, increaes salivary flow.

Radiation, and chemo also damages nerves, and other fast acting cells, like taste buds. The tongue has syncopes that transmit taste impulses to the brain, so once this improves, so will taste. Taste buds typically have a 10-14 day life cycle, and continuously die off, and are replaced. Chemo and radiation just destroys them faster than they can be replaced. In addition, radiation continues working 6 weeks post treatment, so when chemo and radiation is stopped the body can start repairing itself.

Some people have more taste buds than others. You can see the taste buds by placing a small drop of blue food coloring on the tongue. The more taste buds you have, the more you can taste.

Hot foods, spicy, sharp texture, and acidic foods can dull the taste senses. I eat food warm, room temp or cold. Also, mucositus, thrush, dry mouth, certain medications, can hamper taste, as well as pain, ulcers disturb your eating.

I tried a buffet to see what foods I like best, which continuously changes, improves over time. There is also a link here from ChrustineB for "easy eating foods", and another post for various cookbooks for situations like ours.

I also use certain techniques to improve flavor of food, especially umami, which transcends into all other taste senses. If you ever ate something, and could not figure it out, it is probably had umami in it..anchovies, mushroom, soy sauce, hard cheese, etc. I make a umami powder to cook with, and may try to develop my own unique type to improve taste, if I ever get the energy.

I hope this helps.