Tasteless Thoughts

[howeird]

Consider broccoli and it's evil white cousin, cauliflower. I personally can't stand them. There are a few other veggies I don't like, eggplant is one, Brussels sprouts, asparagus.

And I have friends who go out of their way to eat these.

This afternoon I ate at World Wraps and was appalled to discover my beef teriyaki wrap stuffed full of broccoli. Which reminded me that when I returned from two broccoli-free years in Thailand, all the Thai restaurants adopted that little green plastic tree as its house vegetable. I am still wondering why. It is nothing at all like the pak taup which it replaces. Pak taup means "slap vegetable" and is a lily pad (slaps the surface of the water) which is toxic and banned by the FDA. It has a bitter taste which is difficult to reproduce with legal foodstuffs. Broccoli is about as far from pak taup in taste as one can get. Another veggie I miss is morning glory, which is probably also on the FDA no-no list. Lotus root I don't miss, it tastes a lot like cauliflower (that is, it has no taste) but it's pretty when sliced horizontally.

The old saying "there's no accounting for taste" enters my mind, and gets flipped into "no no no, I have no taste for accounting." So I'm driving back to work and wondering what does account for taste. Is it genetic? Is it a learned response? Do we like what our friends like because of peer pressure? Do we dislike what is Good For Us because we have to rebel? And what about Naomi?

Comments

[bridget-coila.livejournal.com]

There is some evidence for at least some of taste-preference to be genetic...

there is also a LOT of evidence that it is highly influenced by what baby was exposed to early in life. Specifically, if mom eats specific spices while breastfeeding, then baby will grow up forever attuned to those spices.
I suppose formula-fed babies have to develop their own taste preferences.

B

[howeird]

Hmmm. Well, I was not breast fed because my mom was on some kind of medication for a large chunk of time just after I was born.

Spice is the variety of life.

[pyrzqxgl.livejournal.com]

I don't like the taste or texture of eggplant or asparagus, but eat lots of cauliflower and broccoli -- for one thing, they're good at taking on the flavor of the sauce. And my younger son loves raw broccoli.