6 dimensions of taste. 8 families. 64 types. Here's what we measure, why it matters, and what your result actually means.
Everyone has a palate. It shapes where you eat, what you order, and who you enjoy meals with. But we've never had a shared language for it.
SMAKO gives your palate a name. One word. Based on how you actually experience food, drinks, and flavor — not what you had for dinner last night.
Think of it as MBTI, but for your taste. Instead of measuring whether you're introverted or extroverted, we measure whether you lean bright or cozy, light or rich, adventurous or loyal. These are stable sensory traits — they don't change with your mood.
Every SMAKO type is defined by 6 binary dimensions. Each one captures a different axis of how you experience taste. Together, they produce 26 = 64 unique combinations.
Every SMAKO type has a 6-letter code — one letter per dimension, in order: Energy · Weight · Texture · Flavor · Palate · Explorer.
For example, CRVSTA decodes as: Cozy · Rich · Velvety · Savory · Tolerant · Adventurous. That's MISO — warm, deep, smooth, savory, handles intensity, always exploring.
You don't need to memorize the code. That's what the name is for. But if you want to compare two types, the code shows you exactly where they overlap and where they diverge.
The first 3 dimensions (Energy + Weight + Flavor) define your family — the broadest category of your taste identity. Each family contains 8 types that share a core flavor profile but differ in texture preference, palate sensitivity, and how much they explore.
Each question presents a scenario or preference. You respond on a 4-point scale — no neutral option, so every answer moves the needle.
Your answers are summed for each of the 6 dimensions. The side with the higher total becomes your trait for that dimension.
Your 6-letter code maps to one of 64 named types. Each type has a spirit character, a tagline, food and drink matches, and a taste identity paragraph.
| SMAKO | MBTI | BuzzFeed Quiz | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Measures | Sensory traits (taste, texture, flavor) | Cognitive traits (thinking, feeling) | Random preferences |
| Types | 64 | 16 | 4-8 |
| Dimensions | 6 (scientifically grounded) | 4 (debated validity) | None (arbitrary scoring) |
| Stability | High — sensory traits are stable over time | Moderate — retests show ~50% type change | None — mood-dependent |
| Practical use | Restaurant picks, group dining, food matching | Self-awareness, team dynamics | Entertainment only |
| Time | 3 minutes | 15-30 minutes | 1-2 minutes |
SMAKO's 6 dimensions are grounded in peer-reviewed sensory science. We didn't invent the traits — we synthesized 30+ years of research into a consumer-facing framework.
Palate sensitivity (Dimension 5) is directly linked to TAS2R38, the gene responsible for bitter taste perception. People with certain variants of this gene experience bitterness more intensely — affecting their preferences for coffee, dark chocolate, cruciferous vegetables, and tannic wines. This is one of the most replicated findings in taste genetics, published across 12+ peer-reviewed studies since 2003.
Food neophobia (Dimension 6) — the tendency to avoid or seek new foods — has been studied extensively since Pliner & Hobden's 1992 Food Neophobia Scale. It's a stable trait with moderate heritability, meaning it's partly genetic and partly shaped by early food exposure.
The other dimensions (Energy, Weight, Texture, Flavor) draw from hedonic preference mapping research — the science of how people evaluate food pleasantness across multiple sensory attributes simultaneously.
For the full methodology and citations, see our Science & Methodology page.