Matt Preston puts on his lab coat to assess the various candidates vying for the mantle of new primary taste.

In this week’s delicious. on Sunday, in Stellar magazine, we reveal the fascinating crusade to map new tastes beyond the standard ones. For years we believed that the tongue could only detect four elemental flavours – sweet, salty, sour and bitter – but researchers are investigating a host of new sensations. “Umami is now widely accepted as the fifth taste but scientists are not stopping at five,” writes Matt Preston. One of the most compelling contenders is “starchiness”, the taste of carbs, which might explain why we find pasta and pizza so impossibly desirable.

In our weekly meal plan, delicious. on Sunday’s food editor Warren Mendes devises five dishes ideal for the lead-up to Easter. From sticky miso roast chicken on Monday to salmon and caraway filo pies on Friday, the recipes are designed to impress your family every night of the week. Meanwhile, in his regular column, Matt Preston explores the notion that Easter far outshines Christmas in the culinary stakes. Unlike eating turkey in summer, the autumn holiday brings with it a tantalising list of chocolate treats, baked goods and savoury dishes that work perfectly with the season.

delicious. on Sunday also includes the latest news and reviews for each state on the eastern seaboard. In this week’s NSW paper, Anthony Huckstep explores the irresistible French polish of Bistro Rex in Sydney’s Potts Point. For the VIC edition, Dan Stock is bowled over by the new satellite venture for modern Vietnamese eatery Uncle in Melbourne’s CBD. In QLD, Anooska Tucker-Evans dines at the new-look Pearl Cafe in Woolloongabba.

delicious. on Sunday appears in Stellar every weekend. Stellar is available in The Sunday Telegraph in New South Wales, the Sunday Herald Sun in Victoria, and The Sunday Mail in Queensland.

If you want to make it a Stellar Sunday, be sure to #makeitdelicious, too!