Retraining the taste buds

[pmeheran]

I am not sure exactly where this post goes, maybe the moderater could do what he does best. Well, anyway, I taught and I read and now I understand there are a bunch of people who do not like certain foods. Well, I don't like lima beans, so what; I think if it was prepared well, I could choke it down. The many things they do not like astound me.

When I was a bodybuilder, I had to diet to reduce body weight. How to do that and still remain human. I realized after a while that I could not eat the usual stuff without exceeding the the calorie limit. So, I figured out, that I had to retrain my tastebuds to put up with the food needed. After doing this several times, I realized that the taste was definitely re trainable. Sure, some things are more desirable, but if you need to, you can put up with many things.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Why should I bother with "retraining my taste buds" to eat something I do not like? Life is too short, i want to enjoy what I like and not be bothered with the rest.

I happen to LOVE lima beans...but I'm not going to force you to eat them if you don't like them...I'd like the same consideration over those Brussels Sprouts.

 

[Andy M.]

I don't think you're retraining your taste buds, just convincing yourself that something you have to do isn't so bad after all. But you are right that the human body is very adaptable when it has to be.

 

[Dawgluver]

Lima bean lover here, too! Brussels sprouts make a nice decoration. Actually, artichokes look better, and don't have so many worms.

 

[CWS4322]

I do not wish to retrain my tastebuds to like lutefisk. Please pass the brussels sprouts and lima beans.

 

[Dawgluver]

I do not wish to retrain my tastebuds to like lutefisk. Please pass the brussels sprouts and lima beans.

CW, you might know. My mom loved finnenhady (sp?). I just remember it stunk up the kitchen like lutefisk. What is it, and did you have it too?

 

[Silversage]

Finnan Haddie is smoked haddock.

 

[Kathleen]

Why should I bother with "retraining my taste buds" to eat something I do not like? Life is too short, i want to enjoy what I like and not be bothered with the rest.

I happen to LOVE lima beans...but I'm not going to force you to eat them if you don't like them...I'd like the same consideration over those Brussels Sprouts.

Now, now. I had to acquire the taste of bitter chocolate. As a child, I only liked milk chocolate. Now, I would only go with bitter chocolate...Hmm. Maybe I need to re-acquire the taste for milk chocolate.

 

[FrankZ]

Now, now. I had to acquire the taste of bitter chocolate. As a child, I only liked milk chocolate. Now, I would only go with bitter chocolate...Hmm. Maybe I need to re-acquire the taste for milk chocolate.

You never met a chocolate you didn't like.

 

[Kathleen]

You never met a chocolate you didn't like.

*gasps* Not true! There was that...raspberry thing that filled a chocolate affecting the flavor negatively. You could taste the raspberry-like thing flavor even when you tried to simply lick the chocolate off!

 

[Merlot]

As a teenager I had to retrain my tastebuds to like beer since that's all we could get a hold of.

 

[Dawgluver]

Finnan Haddie is smoked haddock.

Thanks for the spelling and the explanation, SS! I had no idea.

 

[texherp]

OP, I know what you mean. When I was in college as an undergrad in Austin, I lived in a 'co-op' where basically all the cooking and cleaning and other labor is shared by the residents in a structured setting and we were provided with 3 meals a day, cooked by whoever volunteered to be a cook for the semester and covered by our rent. It seemed to me a lot of people used that opportunity to learn how to cook, which meant a lot of really cruddy meals. Some people were really decent cooks and everyone looked forward to days when they cooked. My mom, and I and one of my sisters love to cook, so I grew up with some good food in the house so I really had to learn to just eat what was on my plate when I got to college. I feel like it makes me sound spoiled, but you can imagine how bad it could get letting a bunch of college kids cook for 100+ people. In the end, it was a good experience though, because I find it much easier to be polite when I'm given some not-so-great food, lol.

 

[Kathleen]

OP, I know what you mean. When I was in college as an undergrad in Austin, I lived in a 'co-op' where basically all the cooking and cleaning and other labor is shared by the residents in a structured setting and we were provided with 3 meals a day, cooked by whoever volunteered to be a cook for the semester and covered by our rent. It seemed to me a lot of people used that opportunity to learn how to cook, which meant a lot of really cruddy meals. Some people were really decent cooks and everyone looked forward to days when they cooked. My mom, and I and one of my sisters love to cook, so I grew up with some good food in the house so I really had to learn to just eat what was on my plate when I got to college. I feel like it makes me sound spoiled, but you can imagine how bad it could get letting a bunch of college kids cook for 100+ people. In the end, it was a good experience though, because I find it much easier to be polite when I'm given some not-so-great food, lol.

A good experience and makes for fun memories! I would not trade my college memories for anything. Plus, the spam quiche really was remarkably good.

 

[GLC]

There is a serious difference between learning to tolerate and learning to like. Obviously, when there is nothing else, for whatever reason, one must learn to tolerate. In a dire situation, that happens quickly. The lifeboat castaway quickly adapts to biting chunks out of whole raw fish and carefully sucking the liquids from the inedible parts. In the gulags, moldy raw potatoes go down easily. Neither fare is going to become a pleasure, no matter how much "training." Neither is a pleasure in any culture.

It is quite another thing to seek to enjoy a food that is deemed by some normal humans to be enjoyable but that you do not like. You have a good chance of doing that when your dislike is not because you are physically incapable of tasting it as do those who enjoy it. The cilantro haters in the other thread are never going like cilantro, no matter how hard they try. They cannot taste the balance of flavors that the likers appreciate. They might choke it down in dire straits, just as starving people will eat grass and bark, but it will never be "food" to them.

But assuming "normal" human flavor sense, a determined person should be able to come to appreciate something another human appreciates. Even if it requires turning the lights down real low. I think most of us who aren't in cultures where they are routinely served to children deliberately learned to like beer and coffee due to their social value as a mark of maturity.

 

[Kathleen]

There is a serious difference between learning to tolerate and learning to like. Obviously, when there is nothing else, for whatever reason, one must learn to tolerate. In a dire situation, that happens quickly. The lifeboat castaway quickly adapts to biting chunks out of whole raw fish and carefully sucking the liquids from the inedible parts. In the gulags, moldy raw potatoes go down easily. Neither fare is going to become a pleasure, no matter how much "training." Neither is a pleasure in any culture.

It is quite another thing to seek to enjoy a food that is deemed by some normal humans to be enjoyable but that you do not like. You have a good chance of doing that when your dislike is not because you are physically incapable of tasting it as do those who enjoy it. The cilantro haters in the other thread are never going like cilantro, no matter how hard they try. They cannot taste the balance of flavors that the likers appreciate. They might choke it down in dire straits, just as starving people will eat grass and bark, but it will never be "food" to them.

But assuming "normal" human flavor sense, a determined person should be able to come to appreciate something another human appreciates. Even if it requires turning the lights down real low.

I think this is completely true. I tried for years to enjoy coffee because Frank loves it. After many years of trying - really trying, I've grown to tolerate it as long as there is enough milk, sugar, etc. added to it. It has a lingering acidic bitterness that tastes almost rancid to me. I do not even find the smell appealing. I do not like coffee-flavored ice cream. It has to be something in the coffee that can be alleviated by some processes because I will occasionally find coffee that doesn't have it as prominently. I've finally realized that I'm a non-coffee drinker in a coffee drinking world.

My house has six methods to make coffee. I'd love to share in that.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

When I was a bodybuilder, I had to diet to reduce body weight. How to do that and still remain human. I realized after a while that I could not eat the usual stuff without exceeding the the calorie limit. So, I figured out, that I had to retrain my tastebuds to put up with the food needed. After doing this several times, I realized that the taste was definitely re trainable. Sure, some things are more desirable, but if you need to, you can put up with many things.

Despite what I interpret (IMO) I think this is a pretty important and perceptive post on the forum. Why?

Because enjoyment of food does not exist without enjoyment, appreciation and respect for your own personal health.

IMO if you are really enjoying food but you are of a unhealthy weight, then maybe rather than change your enjoyment of eating maybe you should try to change your appreciation of exactly what you eat. Maybe you should gain an appreciation of what's good for you rather than what's bad for you?

I load up on vegetables, I appreciate my proteins, I don't worry much about fat, but I strictly limit my carbs, particularly refined carbohydrates (rice, potatoes, pasta, bread, sugar, etc.). I've found that I still appreciate my favorite foods but I've found health through limiting refined carbohydrates. Perhaps they were my personal "kryptonite."

I think to some degree you have to learn to reprogram your taste buds if you want to have good health. Unless of course you were born with or still young enough to have a high metabolism. Good luck if you have that and prepare for the day your metabolism slows and you have to reprogram your taste buds.

 

[GLC]

I've found that I still appreciate my favorite foods but I've found health through limiting refined carbohydrates. Perhaps they were my personal "kryptonite."

Mine, too. I suspect it's genetic. My father had to watch them, especially bread. But all things in balance and in moderation. I'm fully in agreement with the motto that Ian Fleming attributed to his James Bond character: "I will not waste my days trying to prolong them." But while I love bread and would, if I could, bake and eat fresh bread every day, I couldn't get away with it. And one has to remember that the second mouthful has no better flavor than the first.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

Interesting, GLC... In fact I came to the same conclusion about bread, that I love it and love baking it but I have to do it infrequently because it would be bad for me if I ate it every day.

I cook a very mean focaccia. I'd love to have it every day but I can't. Life goes on and I'm very near the middle BMI. I accept that I can't have my BMI and have my focaccia too.

I've learned to love vegetables. It's hard to abuse eating them. Protein isn't that bad either although maybe some will disagree with me. Starch... not so good.

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 should post some of my favorite potato recipes on the forum.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Now, now. I had to acquire the taste of bitter chocolate. As a child, I only liked milk chocolate. Now, I would only go with bitter chocolate...Hmm. Maybe I need to re-acquire the taste for milk chocolate.

That is one taste I never had to worry about.