Why do we say "mouth-watering"?
The French language is rich in expressions whose meaning and origin we sometimes ignore. Where does the expression "avoir l'eau à la bouche" come from? Here are some explanations.
The smell of a family dish being prepared in the kitchen, the smell of the bakery or the sudden desire to bite into a chocolate as you pass by a chocolatier's shop window... How can our mouths not water when our sight, hearing or smell recognize a particularly pleasing food and arouse our appetite?our mouths water when our eyes, ears and sense of smell recognize a particularly pleasing food and whet our appetites On Sunday April 13, 2025, at 8:25 pm on M6, the popular science program "E=M6" reveals the explanation behind this commonly-used expression.
A scientific reason
To explain how we came to speak of "mouth watering", the program E=M6 visited the Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, in Dijon. The first observation of Eric Neyraud, a specialist in saliva, interviewed by the 6 channel program: "saliva contains a lot of water". When your mouth waters, it simply means that you're salivating more than normal. And this salivation is uncontrollable, continuous and particularly produced when chewing. Its production is also a reflex phenomenon of anticipated pleasure at the sight of an appreciated and coveted food.
The presence of saliva is important, as some of the minerals it contains help the first stage of digestion by moistening the food. It also aids food absorption and helps us to fully experience the flavors of food.
According to saliva specialist Eric Neyraud, "we produce between 0.5 and 1 liter of saliva per person per day". But when we're faced with an appetizing food, smelling a stew or hearing bread crunch... this secretion is more abundant. According to a neuro-gastroenterologist at the Bobigny hospital interviewed for the show, when we see, think or smell food that we like, our memory recalls it.one's memory recalls a pleasant tasting moment, and one part of the brain stimulates another part, which lies beneath the medulla oblongata. This causes a flow of saliva to be secreted, activating the various glands.
The expression "mouth watering" is difficult to date precisely, but it first appeared in the 15th century. today, beyond French-speaking countries, it is used throughout the world, in Algeria, Romania, Sweden and Argentina, for example. The expression is no longer limited to food. Anything else can make the mouth water, signifying a particular craving. In 1960, Serge Gainsbourg used it as the title of a song, the soundtrack to a Jacques Doniol-Valcroze film of the same title.
