Hi Amy!

I hope you return to read the above responses, and also this one. The loss of taste has been on of the biggest challenges for me, coupled with the inability to just plain eat, anything.

I just finished my second battle in the trip through this ugly war. The first began back in June of 2005.

There are a few things that I have never lost the taste of, Welches Grape juice, Chocolate Ensure and cantelope of all things. On very infrequent occasions, while cooking for the family, I do taste some of the seasonings I am using while testing the food, though near 99% is served with no idea what it will taste like. Fortunately for them, I was brought up in the restaurant business and most of my cooking is done to smell and touch so there are few complaints.

The big thing is going to be to get him to try different things, most will taste like cardboard, but somewhere alone the way a taste will emerge when least expected. Hopefully he will never reach the point I am at now in dealing with the mental aspect of never being able to chew and eat food again. Being a chef I LOVE food and accepting the fact that I will never eat a grilled steak or peanut butter sandwich again has me devestated.

I would suggest starting with any kind of fruit as they can be eaten in small pieces or run through a blender to make juice.

I wish you and your dad well in the weeks to come in his fight with this insidious disease.