Flavor is the distinctive taste of food or drink. When you bite into a strawberry, its sweet, slightly tangy flavor tells your tongue exactly what you're eating. Chocolate ice cream has a rich, sweet flavor totally different from vanilla's smooth, creamy one.

Flavor comes from a combination of taste and smell working together. Your tongue detects basic tastes like sweet, salty, sour, and bitter, while your nose picks up hundreds of different scents. That's why food tastes bland when you have a stuffy nose: you're missing half the experience. A lemon has a sour flavor, bacon has a salty and smoky flavor, and cinnamon has a warm, spicy flavor.

The word also means a particular type or variety of something. Ice cream shops offer many flavors to choose from. You might prefer one flavor of music over another, meaning you like one style better.

When something has lots of flavor, it means the taste is strong and satisfying. When something is flavorless, it tastes boring or bland, like plain, unseasoned chicken. Cooks and chefs spend years learning how to combine ingredients to create delicious flavors that make people excited to eat.