The first time I tried an olive I disliked it intensely. The same thing happened when I first drank wine. Now I love both. What happens to our sense of taste to allow us to start liking such foodstuffs? And, just as intriguingly, what makes us persevere with them at first?
鈥� As we age, we progressively lose parts of our senses of taste and smell. The first parts to go are those that make us dislike certain foods. Much later in life, we begin to lose the parts that allow us to enjoy our favourite foods. In between is the golden age of the gourmet 鈥� enjoy it while you can鈥�
Alan Chattaway, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
Advertisement
鈥� Our genetically acquired senses of taste and smell encourage certain preferences, such as that for sweetness, or avoidances, such as those for bitterness or faecal tastes, but we are by nature nonspecialist, socialising omnivores. If we are neither to starve nor poison ourselves, we must learn which foods are good for us and which are not. A good rule is: 鈥淲hat you or your friends don鈥檛 know or don鈥檛 like is nasty.鈥� This rule is, however, subject to circumstances such as famine and social pressures such as hospitality.
The rule is also subject to experience, for example: 鈥淭hat nasty-smelling cabbage left me feeling nice and full; now it doesn鈥檛 smell so bad. But having vomited kidneys while in the middle of a fever, I can鈥檛 even stand their smell!鈥�
Alien foods tend to repel us at first, especially if our gastronomical experience has been narrow; a friend of mine offered an apple to an girl in northern Namibia 鈥� she took one bite and promptly spat it out. She was used to wild fruit that, to Western tastes, are insipid, astringent or generally vile. Perhaps some ancestor of ours was starving and so decided to try olives and then, having learned to prepare them and like them, passed on the liking. Now enthusiasts perennially offer us olives in various dishes, and gradually our system adapts.
鈥淎lien foods tend to repel us at first, especially if our gastronomical experience has been narrow鈥�
Jon Richfield, Somerset West, South Africa