system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Does "letting the flavors blend" actually work?  And if so, what's going on?

Lots of recipes for salads, coleslaw, or soups say to leave it in the fridge for a few hours so that "the flavors can blend together".  But surely, between my mixing and the turbulent blending of the air before reaching my nose, everything I can taste/smell should be blended already, even if I eat it right away.

Are people deluding themselves, or is there something else going on here?
gpt
think of it more as infusing than blending. If you drank tea a few seconds after adding water, it would be very, very weak and the longer you let it sit it gets stronger.  With something like salad dressing, it takes a bit of time for the flavour of herbs and spices to infuse through the oil.