Retraining the taste buds

[4meandthem]

I agree with OP. If you dislike something but try it over and over in small quantities cooked different ways you will start to find part of it you like and then expand on that. You will eventually like it cooked a particular way and that will lead to tolerating it another way and so on.

How else did we start liking like the things we hated as kids.

 

[Andy M.]

I agree with OP. If you dislike something but try it over and over in small quantities cooked different ways you will start to find part of it you like and then expand on that. You will eventually like it cooked a particular way and that will lead to tolerating it another way and so on.

How else did we start liking like the things we hated as kids.

I think this can happen in some cases but it is by no means an assured result.

Sometimes our tastes change through no conscious effort on our part. As a child, I always disliked butternut squash and sweet potato. Love them both now. There was no effort on my part to make myself like them, it just happened.

On the other hand, I still hate b____ and c__________. (That's beets and cauliflower in case you missed it.)

 

[4meandthem]

I agree it is not foolproof and not for everyone either.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I have tried the things I did not like as a child, some of them I enjoy now...some of them I still cannot stand. And no amount of changing how it is cooked has helped. There are few now that I do not like...I think I can live without them.

 

[Caslon]

Lima beans? Yes, but please pass the pepper.

 

[taxlady]

I used to drink sugar in my coffee, 35 years ago. I decided to try to get used to coffee without sugar. At first I drank the coffee watered down and with extra cream. Now I really dislike the taste of sugar in coffee. I figure I trained my taste buds.

 

[buckytom]

i had to retrain my tastebuds away from liking salt.

i used to love really salty things. i'd put so much salt on french fries that they looked encrusted in salt.

but my genetics kicked in (maybe due to epi-genetic triggers?) and my blood pressure got too high, so salt was a no no.

i stopped adding salt to foods, and eventually got used to it. in fact, i was able to taste the salt in many foods that i previously had no idea were salty. things like bread or salted butter. today, many breads taste very salty to me, and i couldn't even think about adding salt to french fries.

essentially, i retrained my tastebuds to appreciate smaller amounts of salt. so, it is certainly possible.

besides, what about chili-heads? no person is born liking hot peppers. it's a learned thing, and people most certainly train to eat hotter and hotter peppers.

 

[PattY1]

Finnan Haddie is smoked haddock.

I love fried or even microwaved Haddock, smoked doesn't sound so good.

 

[GB]

besides, what about chili-heads? no person is born liking hot peppers. it's a learned thing, and people most certainly train to eat hotter and hotter peppers.

Is that taste buds or pain receptors though?

 

[GLC]

I think fats are over-vilified. I don't agree that eating fats makes you fat. I blame carbohydrate overeating for making me fat, although it's difficult for me to justify extrapolating my personal experience to apply to other people.

I'm not fanatical about fat and use butter and oils, just being mindful of their calories. And I know that the "normal" published "maintenance" calorie numbers is bunk. If they were applicable to everyone, I'd be near starving. Weight control wise, for me, proteins with low calorie carbs and very limited starches does best.

What makes us fat isn't the fats we eat - it's the fats we make.

 

[Andy M.]

i had to retrain my tastebuds away from liking salt...

...besides, what about chili-heads? no person is born liking hot peppers. it's a learned thing, and people most certainly train to eat hotter and hotter peppers.

BT, that's not really retraining. Some of your tastebuds are programmed from birth to taste salt. Others do sweet, etc. All you've really done is adjust the sensitivity of something that was always there.


..."learning" to like heat in your foods is an evolving taste. As discussed earlier, humans' tastes change without thought or effort all the time. It's not something (for the most part) that one decides to do, working on a programmed routine of increased heat levels over a set period of time.

 

[GLC]

The best scientific guess on why people like hot peppers is that it is along the same lines as why people ride roller coasters or like feeling sad watching a tear jerker movie. It's called "benign masochism." The sensation of harm without the harm. And the heat triggers endorphins, so there's a "feel good" effect. While the potential health benefits can't motivate individuals who don't know of them, they may well have guided whole peoples (at least one third of the world) to institutionalize heavy eating of hot peppers through survival mechanisms. Sensing the insult of the assault from hot pepper, the body cranks up the metabolism, and hot pepper may reduce blood lipids and protect against blood clots.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

i stopped adding salt to foods, and eventually got used to it. in fact, i was able to taste the salt in many foods that i previously had no idea were salty. things like bread or salted butter. today, many breads taste very salty to me, and i couldn't even think about adding salt to french fries.

I've reduced the salt I add to my foods, and as a consequence many foods particularly convenience foods taste too salty, and in some cases I've had to discontinue eating their products because they are over salted and over flavorified. (Lean Cuisine for example. They would taste better to me if they were more bland. They've added so much flavor enhancement that there is just too much flavor.)

I'm not fanatical about fat and use butter and oils, just being mindful of their calories. And I know that the "normal" published "maintenance" calorie numbers is bunk. If they were applicable to everyone, I'd be near starving. Weight control wise, for me, proteins with low calorie carbs and very limited starches does best.

What makes us fat isn't the fats we eat - it's the fats we make.

I think you and I are in full agreement. IMO the problem many people have is eating too much refined carbohydrate. It is easily digested by enzymes in the stomach and turned into sugar which goes directly from the stomach into the blood stream, and provokes an insulin response which causes fat cells to convert the blood sugar into fat for storage. That's the fat that makes us fat.

(This same process over time can lead to insulin resistance and eventually adult onset diabetes. People should avoid foods that cause such a huge blood sugar spike, and instead should consume complex carbohydrates, proteins and even fat. Eating carbohydrates makes you fat. Eating fat makes you satiated and signals your appetite to tell you it's time to quit eating.)

BT, that's not really retraining. Some of your tastebuds are programmed from birth to taste salt. Others do sweet, etc. All you've really done is adjust the sensitivity of something that was always there.

Particularly the fast food industry and convenience food industry keep adding more and more salt to their products, thus reprogramming their customers to expect a saltier taste in everything. This is part of the reason people eat too much salt. If they cooked this food in their own homes and started out with no salt and added just enough to get a little bit of salt flavor it would be far less salt than the fast food and convenience food industries add.

 

[GLC]

That's the fat that makes us fat.

Could hardly be otherwise. Unless that's a roll of pure carbohydrate keeping be from knowing what color shoes I'm wearing. I have to use my imagination for anything below the belly. For instance, in my imagination, I have a really big...






...toe.

 

[taxlady]

Could hardly be otherwise. Unless that's a roll of pure carbohydrate keeping be from knowing what color shoes I'm wearing. I have to use my imagination for anything below the belly. For instance, in my imagination, I have a really big...






...toe.