Why is fat so tasty?

Most animals, including humans, prefer high-fat food to low-fat food. Fatty foods are very palatable though the fatty acids, which make these foods fatty, are tasteless. On the other hand, sweet, sour, salty, or bitter foods are recognized by the corresponding receptors of the taste buds. The receptors then send information to the brain areas responsible for positive or negative sensations called hedonic or aversive. But how the tasteless fatty acids manage to make fatty foods so tasty?

Recently, it was suggested that long-chain fatty acids attaching to their specific transporter in the tongue. These long-chain fatty acids are recognized on the tongue, and then neuropeptides and neurotransmitters such as the famous "reward chemical" beta-endorphin is released in the brain.

Source: J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo). 2007 Feb;53(1):1-4.