Tongue Cancer Taste Recovery: Chef Grant Achatz's Inspiring Journey

How Chef Grant Achatz Is Helping Tongue Cancer Patients Reclaim Their Taste

For a chef, having a keen sense of taste is everything. When world-renowned chef Grant Achatz of Chicago's three-Michelin-starred restaurant Alinea learned he had stage 4 tongue cancer while at the height of his career, he ended up choosing a radical treatment that spared his tongue—but left him unable to taste. His sense of flavor eventually returned, and he has now been cancer-free for 17 years.

Today, he's using his experience to support others. Johnson & Johnson has partnered with Achatz to launch Tasting Notes, an educational campaign with expert-backed guidance and practical solutions. Up to 80% of cancer patients face taste changes—known as dysgeusia—during treatment, according to the campaign. Together with registered dietitian Abbey Reiser, Achatz is working to help patients and caregivers explore flavors, maintain nutrition, and rebuild confidence in eating.

In a conversation with The Healthy by Reader's Digest, Achatz shared the top tips he gives to people navigating treatment that takes away their sense of taste. He also opened up about the first signs of his cancer, how he advocated for his own care, and the very first food he was able to taste again.

In terms of your taste, how long was it gone?

It was gone for about a year. And then it came back in stages. Fully returned after about a year and a half.

Can you share what first led to your cancer diagnosis? Were there any symptoms you noticed?

Yeah, so I had a little tiny dot on the side of my tongue that literally felt like I bit it. But it just never went away. I would go to the dentist and be like, "Hey, here's this thing." And they're like, "Oh, you're probably grinding your teeth or you're stressed out or whatever."

I feel like dentists have a little bit more of an elevated awareness of oral cancer in general, because it is on the rise, particularly in young people, like in their twenties. It's probably detected sooner than it was back then, but I would encourage everyone, if they have anything that is bothering them, they should go—first to the dentist, and if that dentist sort of blows it off, they have to be their own advocate and go elsewhere.

.......

What was it like for you when your taste started coming back? What was the first food that you remember tasting?

It was coffee. At that time, I was really, really underweight because, going through the treatment, you don't really eat much. And so the doctors were encouraging me to take in calories, however I could possibly get them into my body. The easiest way was that: sugar and fat. So I woke up in the morning, I was on my way to the hospital, and I poured myself a big cup of coffee with sugar and heavy cream. And when I took that first sip, I was expecting zero. And all of a sudden, my mouth was able to perceive that sugar. And it was a moment.

Because, you know, at that point, they could never tell me with certainty that it was going to come back. So when I had that first little glimpse of that, the optimism. If it is only sweetness, fine. I live on ice cream and dessert the rest of my life, and that's better than nothing. About three or four months later, I was able to perceive salt.

What's one self-care habit you refuse to skip now?

I feel like it's exercise. It's almost cliche. What I find for me is not only the physicality of it and the health benefits to the body, but for me to have that hour every day that I put my headphones in, and I'm completely in my own head. That mental self-care is more important than this and so I really encourage people, and it doesn't have to be strenuous. It could be a walk around the block, it could be, you know, whatever you do at home, or if you go to the gym, I feel like this is really impactful.

What's your workout of choice, and what are you listening to?

I lift a lot of weights, a lot of free weights, and then my wife and I do a lot of walking in the warm weather. If I'm working out, it's Eminem or old Rage Against the Machine. I like to be moving.

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This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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