Strange tastes

[chef]

I wonder, do our taste buds change?

Babies often won't eat foods, although probably more because of the texture than the taste.

As a kid there were all kinds of food I would not eat unless under duress by my mother....like Velvetta Cheese, Pinmento Cheese, Rye bread, sour cream, etc.

In my teens and 20's certain things tasted terrible to me. For instance, I remember that every time I tasted Budweiser Beer, it tasted like celery to me. Never have like that beer.

Now as an adult, I can hardly think of any one thing that I just won't eat because I cannot stand the taste of it....well, only one: fruit cake (best used as a door stop in my house). That may have happened from sneaking the candied fruit one Christmas as a child until I was so ill.

But I am now finding I like unusual tastes....capers, for instance. Great in salads! Love sushi and sashimi....always loved raw oyster, so that doesn't count.

We eat things as adults that we were never, ever ate as children.

I recently discovered (by accident, I was out of bread) that rye bread makes exceptional toast.

This winter I have discovered some new beers that are so weird, but so good (could be a woman's perspective on this one). I found this wonderful beer: Young's Double Chocolate Stout, a beer from the U.K...weird but great. As a matter of fact, I just splurged from my diet and excercise tonight after a work out and had rye toast, a fried egg, and a glass of Double Chocolate Stout beer....what a strange, yet wonderful meal.

So, is it just geting indoctrinated to new taste sensations or do our taste buds change?

Random thoughts from a crazy, silly girl...could have been that beer after a workout, maybe more alcohol content.

Regards,
Vicki

[Bill Glasheen]

Babies and children tend to have a different intensity and array of tastes than older children, who are different than adults, who are different than older adults. Mostly with age we begin to develop more discrimination in taste, but we lose some of our taste sensitivity.

That's the short answer.

- Bill

[Shana Moore]

First...double chocolate stout... mmmMMMMMmmmmmmmm!!! A woman after my own heart!

I discovered some interesting information while researching aging and Alzheimers to better understand my mother in law. We were having difficulty getting her to eat more than a bite or two each meal, if that. Part of this was due to a confusion of her sensations (fullness, awareness, etc.), but part of it was a natural part of aging.

As we age, the number and vigor of our taste buds decrease. According to this one article:
http://wwwils.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/e ... 004013.htm
Salt and sweet tastes are lost first. with bitter and sour tastes lasting longer. To this day, she likes very sweet, soft foods, the best. Bitter or sour makes her grimace and angry.

Another article points to a difference in which areas are affected first. If I'm reading the Oxford journal article correctly, the failure of tastebuds was more prevalent in certain parts of the tongue. From my anatomy classes (and the old joke about sweet vs salty), different parts of the tongue perceive different tastes. This is why wine tasters will roll the liquid around thier tongue. The five taste sensations ar esalty, sweet, sour, bitter, and umami (meaty, broth, aged cheese...a savory flavour).

http://chemse.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/26/1/1

Now, I am NOT saying that anyone here is old
What I'm saying is that it makes sense our taste buds change over time. Whether this is because there are fewer taste buds and those left are less receptive, or whether it's because of which taste buds fail over time.....This would partly explain, IMHO, why as we age, stronger tastes become more appealing.

And...I also think most of us are more willing to try unsual foods and flavours as we grow older. So my answer would be both!

How's that for a definitive answer?

[MikeK]

Rye bread also is great for penutbutter and jelly sandwiches. Same with pumpernickle.

[TSDguy]

I read in a pamphlet in the dentists' that eating hot foods (temp. hot, not spicy) over your life kills off your taste buds.

[chef]

and I just read that spicy foods enhance your sex life, go figure.

http://www.ayurvediccure.com/sexdrive.htm

Vicki

[Van Canna]

capers _ Yuk

[Bill Glasheen]

I have to disagree with you on the capers, Van. I like it on chicken and fish dishes. But it is a strong, salty taste.

I've tried to get my boys to TRY all kinds of foods. Because of that, I've had my boys fighting over things like anchovies and sashimi at an early age. When young, my oldest boy used to eat asparagus to the point that his diapers would stink like them.

As I've slowly changed from the "see food" diet (when I see food, I eat it) to healthier foods, I've trained my taste buds to like certain tastes and not like others. There's definitely a mind/body thing going on there for those of us with a bit of discipline and willpower. Mostly I've found with myself and the boys that if you try new foods when REALLY hungry, that you'll learn to develop a taste for most any food you'd want to eat.

Another thing I've discovered is how important it is not to smoke, and to take very good care of your sinuses. Much of taste is smell and not what hits the taste buds. There's a classic experiment they run in science classes where they have a blindfolded person bite into various raw vegetables while smelling a cut onion. When you do that, everything tastes like an onion.

I've now trained my smell to a point that I smell people and things better than most. I SWEAR that I can smell those pheromones some days... There's nothing sweeter than the smell and taste of someone you love (who has good hygiene ).

- Bill

[f.Channell]

Stouts are typically lower in alcohol so go ahead and have two.

F.

[Van Canna]

Capers....double YUK

My parents would force me to eat pasta and capers when I was a kid.

[Van Canna]

Now you are talking

[chef]

Wow...now we've jumped to human tastes...(Bill!!! ).

Back to the topic of food...I must be the odd ball because I love capers on my salads (as a matter of fact, I just had some). I hated those things as kids....until developing a taste for them on a New York Bagels with Locs....yum, yum, yum...and no calories either!

...and smoked salmon....wonderful, actually any salmon for that matter (with caper...I'm with you Bill and I think you should treat me to that one of these days).

Cilantro is one herb that tastes soapy to me...difficult taste to get used to but I am trying because I love Vietnamese foods (they love to use that in their soups).

Regards,
Vicki

PS...Do certain smells create a response in you (scent of anything or anyone)?

[Chris McKaskell]

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning"

Just kidding - haven't had occasion to quote from that movie in years, thanks.

For me it's the smell of tomatos -- when I was a kid and wanted to get away from it all I used to go into the back yard and hide away in the tomato plants.

Same smell can bring back moments of profound peace even in a busy grocery store -- and certainly every summer when I prune my own plants. It's a brief moment, but one I look forward to every year.

That and the herb garden -- the live smells of basil, oregano, thyme (and others) -- each has different subtle emotions attached, for me anyway.

Food and feelings. Weird?

[chef]

Nothing weird about that, Chris...I totally agree...there is a deep innate remembrance of smells and tsstes.

As a small child we lived in Osaka, Japan for four years, where my Dad was stationed. We had two Japanese maids that helped my mom care for my sister, brother, and me. One of the things they fed us was pickled daikon radishes that are used in califormia roll (shushi). We absolutely loved them and would sneak into the fridge, take little bites from them, and wrap them back up. I was only four or five then. We moved back to the states after that.

Well, we moved away and my husband and I went back to Japan 25 years later to visit. We stayed in a Japanese home where they rent out the rooms and cook for you. One of the first meals our hostess made was Chop Suey but brought in these yellow green pickles to eat. The moment I tasted those, I remembered that taste and loving loving that food as a very small child...after 25 years of not having that food. I was jumping up and down all excited like a kid and enjoying those diakon radishes...that could be why I loved sushi so quickly, having lived and eaten Japanese food from the time I was a year old. Crazy experience!

All of us have those deep memories that are triggered by smells and tastes. How many of you have gone to your grandparents home and the moment you smelled their house had floods of memories as a child there?

Regards.
Vicki

[chef]

I relate to food and scents on some deep , primal level.

My family thinks that I am so bizarre because I have this uncanny ability to remember special occasions by the meal that was associated with it. I can tell you what we ate 25 years ago at a certain event, for instance my graduattion dinner from college. I remember the details of food.

Heck, I love to eat (relly good) food so much that I work out to be able to not only stay in shape, but to eat those foods that I love.

What's for dinner, Mrs. Skinner?

Vicki