i was watching a tv show the other night and one of the characters brought up an amazing point. while eating a dish he said that it reminded him of his youth when his mom used to make him that exact same  meal. now as im sure we all remember that the sense of smell has a close connection to the limbic system so smells easily bring back emotional memorie. but the interesting part is that when he smelt his food he did not smell each individual item, he smelled them as a whole unit. on top of that, if he had just smelled one ingredient he would not have had the same experience. even if all the ingredients had been combined, but not in the same way he would not have been reminded of his past. and the same thing happens with taste (besides the jogging the memory part). when food are eaten together as one they do not taste like their separate ingredients. imagine a piece of bread, does it taste anything like flour and water to you? i know it does not to me. that is another interesting question: do stimuli produce the same outcome for everyone? like taste things similarly? when you smell something, does it smell the same as it does to me? do we see the same colors even? there is no way of knowing. just a thought