Well, nutritional yeast is additionally processed:

When the yeast is ready, it is killed with heat and then harvested, washed, dried and packaged.

So, I don't think, it would taste/smell quite the same.

But what you're perhaps also forgetting, is that yeast is in bread as well. It's killed off by baking in that case (and I do believe you shouldn't eat yeast while it's still alive).

Yeast is ultimately just a fungus, though, so yeah, I'm not surprised that we snack it.

You're missing out.

My guess is that it tastes umami, like mushrooms.

It's legitimately quite tasty as a seasoning. I eat cheese and I still keep a bottle of it around.

I love it on popcorn!