Do you taste what I taste?

[mynah]

Lately, whenever I look at a British food programme, every single recipe seems to contain fresh coriander (or cilantro, which I believe is the US name). Then again, perhaps my brain is just primed to react violently to something the rest of the world regards as perfectly wonderful, the way an ailurophobe reacts to a sweet little kitten.

 

An article I read describes the flavour as reminiscent of citrus and rose - but at the very best it reminds me of the thingies that crawl around on those plants. I wasn't surprised to learn that the name of the plant is derived from the Greek word for bug, proving that at least I'm not alone in my impression.

 

On the other end of the scale, I love cabbage in all its forms. Cabbage, kale, broccoli, cauliflower or Brussels sprouts, steamed, pickled, in cheese or white sauce, in soups, stews, even raw, it is a noble vegetable (though I draw the line at the coleslaw of the takeaway down the road). Even so, for all its superiority, the cabbage family doesn't appear nearly as often as coriander on BBC Food.

 

Fashion may have something to do with it (the world once did love brown crimplene, handlebar moustaches and the mullet, after all), but to what extent are taste preferences acquired or genetic? (This is apart from substances that are, as a result of cultural habits, acceptable in some societies but considered disgusting in others, such as grubs.)

 

Apparently, according to researchers, cabbage tastes bitter to some people, but not to others, because of an inherited ability to taste a particular substance. Sense of smell obviously plays a role, too. Has anyone seen explanations for the markedly different ways in which people react to coriander and some other foods and spices, such as onions, garlic, pepper, aniseed and celery?

[Michaelangelica]

In my experience of selling herbs 50% of the population hates coriander/cilanto leaves.

It's smell is supposed to be reminiscent of squashed bed-bugs.

 

I love cabbage, my wife hates it cooked but will sometimes eat in raw

 

People have different numbers of taste buds and so some find some flavours too strong as a result.

 

There are certain genetic differences too; phenketones have a bitter flavour to some others cannot taste it at all.

 

Smell gives us the most "taste'" sensation, again people differ here in likes, associations, intensity and training.

 

Try smelling a ripe apple taking a bite and really concentrate on the flavour, texture and aroma, -as if you were meditating on it.

Many find this an intense experience, where with most food, we just shove it in to assuage hunger.

[Tolouse]

i love garlic and onions to the point others cannot consume what i've prepared simply because i have fitted it to my flavor

 

i found i enjoy the scent of garlics and onions and any bulbous roots and will use them in anything i prepare

 

i also use a lot of hot sauces made from habenero or cayenne peppers, and will use cayenne pepper on anything

 

and my scent of smells is very attuned to these scents

 

the only problem is when the taste is very subtle, but everyone else can taste

 

to me, its rather dull

 

i like the strong, robust tastes

[Dr. Scientist]

I love most of the things you've mentioned.

 

I know one thing that changed in taste for me was definitely mustard. I hated mustard until a certain age, and then suddenly I was given mustard on a hot dog by accident and loved it. Perhaps some sort of maturing in the taste buds.. Maybe this phenomenon you've mentioned with an inability to use an enzyme or something..

[Tolouse]

of all the condiments, i love mustard the best

[mynah]

I had that experience - or the reverse of it - with kidneys. As a small child I loved them, but, after not eating them for a few years, I discovered that I'd gone off them to the extent that it would take great effort not to throw up if a piece ended up in my mouth. Paradoxically, I love the smell of steak and kidney pie, and will happily eat the crust once I've cleared it of kidney bits. I also like the sour sauce that kidney is cooked in on toast. (I don't have any objection to the idea of eating kidney.)

 

With liver I had a somewhat opposite effect, hating it as a kid but now finding it quite tasty when well prepared. I suspect, though, that this is more a matter of recipe than taste.

 

Michael - does your wife object to cabbage on the grounds of taste or smell?

 

Tolouse, I love loads of garlic, but prefer my onion in more moderate portions. Interestingly, when I stopped smoking just over five years ago, I found that, for a few months, I'd moderate my garlic intake because it tasted too much like onion. At the same time I discovered, unexpectedly, that my tolerance for acid foods dropped sharply.

[modest]

Fashion may have something to do with it (the world once did love brown crimplene, handlebar moustaches and the mullet, after all), but to what extent are taste preferences acquired or genetic? (This is apart from substances that are, as a result of cultural habits, acceptable in some societies but considered disgusting in others, such as grubs.)

 

I love this question.

 

I couldn't find the article, but the essentials are here:

Duke University Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology

describing new research that builds on work done 10 years ago where they found some of the neurology behind smell receptors in mammals. They had been looking for the proteins responsible and the new study found two - RTP1 and RTP2. They identified the genes responsible for encoding the proteins. It's interesting stuff.

 

I've always found it curious that some smells (very pungent smells) some people just can't detect.

 

From: http://www.physoc.org/uploadedfiles/publications/pn/subjectcollections/pncollectionspdfs/Integrative/2004/Jacob.PDF

 

Cooks have long known that an unpleasant odour emanates from the meat of mature boar when it is cooked. This is the so-called 'boar taint'and one of he compounds responsible is 5c,-androstenone. Androstenone also occurs in human saliva, urine and sweat. It is found in much higherc oncentrationisn men than women (Gower & Ruparelia, 1993).

 

A proportion of people (-30%) cannot smell androstenone and those who can fall into two groups: a) a very sensitive group, who can detect less than l0 parts per trillion and who find the odour extremely unpleasant (urinous), and b)a group who are not only less sensitive but perceive the odour in different ways such as 'sweet', 'musky', 'perfume-like'. The distribution of thresholds for androstenone,u nlike most other odorants, is not normally distributed, but heavily skewed toward the high threshold end.

[Michaelangelica]

 

Michael - does your wife object to cabbage on the grounds of taste or smell?

I think texture and smell.

She has to be out if I cook it.

I love sautéing an onion in a big soup pot with a goodly slurp of butter and olive oil then add the shredded cabbage 1/2- 1 whole big cabbage. I slowly cook this down for almost an hour on a slow heat trying to just slightly brown some of the cabbage at the bottom. The kids and I used to love it and would eat it whenever "mum" went out

 

We also make a nice salad of shredded cabbage and silver beet with a good handful or two of raisins and a dressing of fresh orange juice, a sprinkle of sugar and apple cider vinegar. Everyone loves that.

You have to get the dressing just right.

 

You know Captain Cook forced his sailors to eat sauerkraut on his voyages. (Yuck) Thus being the first British Sea Captain in history not to kill most of his crew with scurvy.