Cats are different from dogs. Dogs are known for their sensitive noses, especially when it comes to food. They have a sense of smell that is far superior to other animals. At home, dogs usually find food before cats, while cats are always a step behind. In fact, cats have their own methods for judging taste and food. Don't think that cats have a bad sense of smell. Compared to humans, cats' sense of smell is much more sensitive.
Cats rely on their sense of smell to find food. If a cat finds its food, the food must first emit a distinct scent. Cats don't have good eyesight, so they can't rely on their eyes to find food. Not only food, but also their territory and whether someone is familiar to them are all determined by smell. It's no exaggeration to say that cats "see" the world around them through their sense of smell. Newborn kittens can suckle at their mother's nipples using only their sense of smell. Kittens can't see or hear anything yet, so they rely solely on their highly developed sense of smell to find the nipples. 
Cats, like humans, have taste buds on their tongues. However, humans have approximately 9,000 taste buds, while cats only have around 800. Therefore, cats' sense of taste is less developed than ours. We can perceive complex flavors, and the taste of the same food can be perceived differently by humans and cats.
Secondly, different animals require different nutrients. Cats need different nutrients than other animals, and they also rely on different nutrients for energy. What they do have in common is that they perceive nutrients from energy sources as "sweeter." For animals to survive, an energy source is essential. Therefore, when a nutrient becomes an energy source, it is perceived as "sweet" by the brain. The sense of "sweetness" is associated with pleasure. This is also a way to compel cats to eat.
There's a drawback to cats relying on their sense of smell to determine if food is safe to eat. They can't judge the quality of food without a smell, so they can't eat it. No matter how "delicious" something is, if it has no aroma, a cat won't eat it. Food just taken from the refrigerator is still chilled and has no smell, so a cat can't eat it. If a cat has a cold and a stuffy nose, it can't smell anything, can't eat anything, and will weaken and die. Therefore, a cat catching a cold is a very dangerous thing.
However, judging food by smell isn't exactly strange. While humans rely on sight to decide whether something is edible, many people still eat things that look odd, right? It's the same principle. Humans are visual animals, while cats are olfactory animals. Cats, however, are simply particularly loyal to their instincts. The willingness to try oddly-looking foods can be seen as a kind of adventurous spirit, but it can also be seen as a loss of basic animal instincts.
Therefore, when feeding your cat, pay attention to the smell of the food. Don't assume that your cat will like to eat a certain food just because it looks pretty. It may not even glance at it. On the contrary, if you think a certain food smells very tempting, you might as well give it to your cat to try.
