Vampire Taste Buds

[white avenger]

In Season 10, I can't remember the issue number right now, when Buffy suggests that she and Spike go out to dinner, he comments something to the effect that food doesn't have much, if any, taste to vampires, and that seems inconsistent to me. It's a well established fact throughout the series that vampires' senses of hearing and smell are greatly heightened, and it stands to reason that their night vision would be enhanced, so why is their sense of taste not heightened as well?

Spike made a comment once about the taste of domestic beer not being as good as some of the better imported brands, which I would take to mean that his taste buds are at least sensitive enough to judge that. He likes blooming onions, and puts heavy spices in his pig's blood to give it taste, yet raves about the taste of otter blood in Season 5 of "Angel."

Is it my imagination here, or is there a plot inconsistency?

 

[thetopher]

I'm not sure.
Angel seems to like food A LOT more when he's human; he eats a baloney sandwich, a pop tart, ice cream and yogurt and is able to relish the taste when he didn't before.
But as a vampire nothing really compares to the taste of blood- vampires can even distinguish the quality of different types of blood. Spike once asked a barman at Willy's for the 'good stuff, none of the friggin' orangutan.'

And it stands to reason that vampires would have enhanced eyesight and hearing and even (ye gods) 'tracking smell'- all these can be used to hunt, to scent blood and follow prey, hear when they're being stalked and the like. That's what a vampire is designed for after all- hunting and killing humans. They are the ultimate predator.

I don't see why enhanced taste would be needed. Vampires are animated corpses that feed on blood. Only blood sustains them so why would their taste buds need to be as good as or better than the ones they had when they were human. It seems like their taste buds 'die' to a certain extent. They can enjoy rich spicy food, or alcohol or something with a nice texture (bloody weetabix or blooming onions) but it seems like not much in the way of food compares to the taste of blood; human, animal or whatever.

 

[GoSpuffy]

I wondered about that S10 comic and found it inconsistent too. I agree with everything @thetopher says but one of the many things that makes Spike stand out from the others is he continued to enjoy human food i.e.: don't I get a cookie too? So although most vamps probably don't eat at all I can't believe Spike would pass up an opportunity to take his girl to a restaurant and order the spiciest or nicest textured food on the menu, partly because he likes to imbide in a little humanity and partly because the romantic in him would want to take his girl anywhere she wanted to go.

 

[DeadlyDuo]

It seems like Vampires can tell the difference by taste between "normal" blood and "tainted" blood eg Harmony said the soldier boy they had tied up when Spike was looking for the gem of Amarra tasted "funny", Angelus spit out the blood from the guy turning into the fish monster from Go Fish etc. There must be a difference between the taste of human blood and animal blood (and the vampires prefer human) otherwise why don't all the vampires go for animal blood and thus keep the slayer off their backs because they're not killing anyone?

 

[thetopher]

Spike stand out from the others is he continued to enjoy human food i.e.: don't I get a cookie too?

Not just Spike. Angel went out with A.I to a restaurant in 'Belonging' so he can be sociable and eat human food- as long as its with people he likes.

Plus I'm sure he ate takeout a bunch of times with the Wesley and the others.

 

[white avenger]

I don't see why enhanced taste would be needed.

But, just because it isn't needed as much doesn't mean that it wouldn't exist. If Spike can tell the difference between the taste of cheap, domestic beer, and the better imported brands, that certainly indicates a greater sensitivity than I possess. (All beer tastes like crap to me) I'm not saying that your logic isn't valid, I'm saying that this is a plot hole, an inconsistency in what vampire physiology should be.

Also note that, if a vampire can digest only blood, then alcohol shouldn't intoxicate him, because his system couldn't assimilate it into his non-flowing bloodstream, ans caffeine wouldn't make Angel jittery for the exact same reason, though he told Joyce in Season 3 that it did.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

But, just because it isn't needed as much doesn't mean that it wouldn't exist. If Spike can tell the difference between the taste of cheap, domestic beer, and the better imported brands, that certainly indicates a greater sensitivity than I possess. (All beer tastes like crap to me) I'm not saying that your logic isn't valid, I'm saying that this is a plot hole, an inconsistency in what vampire physiology should be.

Also note that, if a vampire can digest only blood, then alcohol shouldn't intoxicate him, because his system couldn't assimilate it into his non-flowing bloodstream, ans caffeine wouldn't make Angel jittery for the exact same reason, though he told Joyce in Season 3 that it did.

In "The Girl in Question", Spike remarks that the small bottles of booze supplied on the plane don't do much for him but we have seen him arrive at Sunnydale in his De Soto obviously drunk, even dropping the bottle and smashing it. In TGIQ we see this:

ANGEL
(looking at the empty bottle in his hands)
Huh. Really can't get drunk off these things.

SPIKE
(slouching in his chair, twirling an empty bottle in his hands)
Not us, anyway. Vampire constitution. Not always a plus.
(beat)
How did you know?

ANGEL
Drank a lot of 'em, and I still don't like you.

In "Lover's Walk" Spike starts off like this:

EXT. PLAYGROUND - NIGHT

A shot-by-shot recreation of Spike's arrival in "School Hard." There's that "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign. And here comes SPIKE'S CAR, crashing into it as it screeches to a stop.

Growling rock cue as the door opens. Except instead of one boot, an entire Spike falls bodily out of the car. A clatter of empties, bottles and cans, accompanies him. Our boy's bombed.

SPIKE
Home sweet... home...


A moment of looking blearily around, then his head drops back and hits pavement.

and continues like this:

INT. FACTORY - NIGHT

Spike wanders through the burnt-out factory, toting a bottle of mescal (as he often will). He is drunk, forlorn. Hums MY WAY -- and begins to sing, mangling the lyrics.

SPIKE
(sings)
Mistakes... I've made a few... I ate
it up... and spit it out... and did
it my way...

In "Fool for Love" Spike is sitting in the Bronze with a beer:

INT. THE BRONZE - NIGHT

We see Spike, sitting with Buffy, finishing a beer.

SPIKE
You know, there's quite a few
American beers that are highly
underrated.


He puts the mug down.

SPIKE
This unfortunately is not
one of them.


BUFFY
Update, Spike: we're not here to
discuss the fine choice of hops.

 

[thetopher]

But, just because it isn't needed as much doesn't mean that it wouldn't exist.

Right, but there has to be some logic behind why it would be more effective than when it was a human. Most if not all demons we see have some sort of logic/practicality in their designs. The telepathic demons have no mouths, The

If Spike can tell the difference between the taste of cheap, domestic beer, and the better imported brands, that certainly indicates a greater sensitivity than I possess.

That just means that Spike is a big beer drinker then, say about 120+ years of it. People can get a taste for things over time and pick up nuance in taste.
I would completely get it if Angel/us knew all about wine and vintages since he liked the finer things in life for a time.

Also note that, if a vampire can digest only blood, then alcohol shouldn't intoxicate him, because his system couldn't assimilate it into his non-flowing bloodstream

That's just one of the wonders of the Buffyverse. Alcohol and coffee still work on vampires, but less effectively.
Vampires still bleed after all, are effected by drugs and poisons and have...y'know, their 'blood-flow' still workin' fine. Just like the fact that their sense of taste is dulled.

Some bodily functions stop working less effectively (or at all) once the body dies. It makes sense that taste buds would fit into that, at least in my view.

 

[DeadlyDuo]

In "The Girl in Question", Spike remarks that the small bottles of booze supplied on the plane don't do much for him but we have seen him arrive at Sunnydale in his De Soto obviously drunk, even dropping the bottle and smashing it.

Perhaps it's the amount of alcohol consumed that can get a vampire drunk? In Lover's walk, Spike was drinking full sized bottles of alcohol (plus in season 4 he had to drink the whole bottle of cognac for anaesthetic in order for Giles to remove the tracer). If Spike was drinking full size bottle of alcohol in quick succession, he'd get a lot more drunk than trying to drink the mini bottles.

 

[white avenger]

Perhaps it's the amount of alcohol consumed that can get a vampire drunk?

Any time that we saw Spike drunk, there were always multiple empty bottles laying around, so I always assumed that vampires had a much higher tolerance for alcohol than living humans.

I think that the comment about the small bottles not being able to get either Angel or Spike drunk had more to do with the amount consumed and the length of time spent consuming it. There just wasn't enough booze or time on the flight back to LA for Angel to get really snockered.