1.   Taste, and add more salt if the salad tastes flat.

2.   Tea connoisseurs claim that water boiled for more than a few seconds, or more than once, loses its air and produces tea that tastes flat.

3.   Taste and add more salt, vinegar or olive oil if the salad seems dry or tastes flat.

4.   Taste for salt and add a little if the soup tastes flat.

5.   The supermarket saffron had very little color and tasted flat.

6.   These results probably square with the experience of food tasting flat when you have a cold.