How Do Taste Buds Determine Likes and Dislikes?
Why do our tastes in foods change? In fact, why do we have likes and dislikes at all?
As a child, I distinctly remember not liking broccoli.
Dinner in my house was typical dual-working parents fare and broccoli was a quick, easy green to add to any meal. So we had broccoli. All. The. Time.
Resembling a grade schooler’s crude drawing of a forest, the dull green flowers of broccoli littered the plate, their stalks slightly brown from over cooking. Add chicken breast or a piece of steak and some sort of carb and *WHAMMO* you’ve got dinner.
I’d make quick work of the protein and carb, but I’d dawdle over the broccoli. I’d push it around the plate a little and ask if I was done.
"No."
Then I’d cut it up into tiny pieces, take one or two infinitesimal bites, then make two perfectly symmetrical mounds with a trench like area in the middle and proclaimed myself full and done (brushing my hands together as I walked away).
Now, as an adult, I can’t get enough of it. I love broccoli. A little salt, a little pepper, and some butter. Mmmm, mmm. Why? How does that happen?
And it works the other way, too.
As a kid, I loved root beer. Won’t touch the stuff today. Same with cottage cheese. But I’m coming back around to that. With fresh salsa, it’s pretty good.
P.Pie went to a little sandwich shop here in the Mile High city, Chedd's Gourmet Grilled Cheese. They have a plethora of cheeses and a variety of meats, as well as rave reviews for their sandwiches.
So she orders the Heartburn Sandwich - horse radish cheddar, roast beef, onion, sauerkraut, and spicy mustard on a white rustic roll. Yeah, I know. You don’t have to say it.
Twenty minutes later, the twins are twisting and turning. It's a regular Womboree in there.
P.Pie turns to me and says, “I don’t think the twins like sauerkraut.”
Perhaps that’s how taste buds determine likes and dislikes.
As a child, I distinctly remember not liking broccoli.
Dinner in my house was typical dual-working parents fare and broccoli was a quick, easy green to add to any meal. So we had broccoli. All. The. Time.
Resembling a grade schooler’s crude drawing of a forest, the dull green flowers of broccoli littered the plate, their stalks slightly brown from over cooking. Add chicken breast or a piece of steak and some sort of carb and *WHAMMO* you’ve got dinner.
I’d make quick work of the protein and carb, but I’d dawdle over the broccoli. I’d push it around the plate a little and ask if I was done.
"No."
Then I’d cut it up into tiny pieces, take one or two infinitesimal bites, then make two perfectly symmetrical mounds with a trench like area in the middle and proclaimed myself full and done (brushing my hands together as I walked away).
Now, as an adult, I can’t get enough of it. I love broccoli. A little salt, a little pepper, and some butter. Mmmm, mmm. Why? How does that happen?
And it works the other way, too.
As a kid, I loved root beer. Won’t touch the stuff today. Same with cottage cheese. But I’m coming back around to that. With fresh salsa, it’s pretty good.
P.Pie went to a little sandwich shop here in the Mile High city, Chedd's Gourmet Grilled Cheese. They have a plethora of cheeses and a variety of meats, as well as rave reviews for their sandwiches.
So she orders the Heartburn Sandwich - horse radish cheddar, roast beef, onion, sauerkraut, and spicy mustard on a white rustic roll. Yeah, I know. You don’t have to say it.
Twenty minutes later, the twins are twisting and turning. It's a regular Womboree in there.
P.Pie turns to me and says, “I don’t think the twins like sauerkraut.”
Perhaps that’s how taste buds determine likes and dislikes.
posted by Rob Barron at 9:12 PM
3 Comments:
That is how I figured out that Claudia liked Pantera and Ian liked pineapple.
When I was pregnant with each child, I craved different foods. When they came out and got old enough to eat real food, the foods I craved turned out to be foods they absolutely love. I don't claim to understand it, but it is pretty cool.
I think I remember reading/hearing somewhere that a young'uns taste buds are a lot more sensitive than an adults.
Maybe that has something to do with it?
Post a Comment
<< Home