How Our Tastes Change As We Get Older

As a parent, we know how hard it is to get our children to try new flavours. No matter whether they have tried it before or not. If they decide they do not like it then their mouths can stay tightly shut for ages. I recently published a post about how to get fussy toddlers to eat. Which got me thinking to how our tastes change as we get older.

When I shared this post with my readers and on social media. I got a lot of comments, including myself. Mostly about how we used to be fussy eaters as well. So what changes? Do we become less fussy, or is it that we are open to trying new foods and tastes. There has been research into this.

Who We Are

Age and gender do play a part in how our tastebuds work. As a parent we all know the battle of getting our toddlers to eat vegetables. Even though they ate them when they first started solids. We become masters in hiding vegetables in sauces.

When we were children given the choice of something sweet and something savoury. We would opt for the sweet option.

As we grow we are more open to trying new foods and flavours. With some taking up to 13 tries before we find we like it. Of course there will always be some foods where no matter how many times you try it, you just do not like itl

How We Are Programmed

Of course a lot of our tastes come from our home. But humans are predisposed to liking sweet and salty over foods that are acidic or bitter. Take popcorn for example, you can now get a mix of sweet and salty.

Our brains and tastebuds take the credit for why we like or dislike certain tastes, For example –

• If fruit is acidic, we know to leave it to ripen and become sweeter
• If food is bitter, it is usually a warning of poison
• With salt our bodies will tell us if we need to up our inake. But will give us a thirst if we have too much so we can dilute it.

Memories

Memories also play a huge part in how our tastes can fluctuate. Remembering tastes of our childhood. Foods we used to get from our grandparents. Also whether you grew up with tastes as well, such as marmite. If you had not had marmite growing up, most likely you will not like it in adult hood.

Pairing Flavours

You will find as adults, we tend to pair flavours together. Those who vape will use different flavours depending on time of day, or what they are eating. Cheese and fruit have always seemed a strange combuination, but it works and is acceptable.

We are all fussy to some extent, and have our weird flavours combinatons we love. Our bodies are built to make sure we get the right nutrients it needs to survive.