Seee how a cat chooses his food

Sniffing for Food
Right after birth, the blind kitten will use its sense of smell to locate its mother and to latch onto a teat. From then on, a cat's sense of smell will always lead it to food, yet sometimes in unlikely places. A cat will search high and low, in high tree branches as well as your kitchen cabinets, for the next morsel.

Because taste is so closely associated with smell, any cat with an active upper respiratory infection or even the aging cat with a reduced sense of smell may go "off" their food. You can help a cat like this by warming its food slightly to increase and enhance the odor and restimulate an appetite.