From what I understand, people’s likes and dislikes change from when they are younger to when they are older. For example, when I was younger, I hated the taste of mustard. I thought that it was super bitter, but now I find that I put mustard on anything that I can. I can’t explain why because I don’t think I’ve sense an actual change in its taste. Similarly, my friend said that she could not stand the artificial “blue raspberry” flavor when she was growing up. However, now, blue raspberry is her favorite flavor when it comes to sweets.
Why do we have these changes in flavor preferences?
In: Biology
From an evolutionary perspective:
Kids are super sensitive to new flavors. They tend to eat what their parents give them (which should be safe), but their brains are wired to be preservation minded. This means bitter foods or foods that “taste weird” (keep in mind kids are often trying things for the first time ever) can be wired as poison to the brains. This means they might taste WAY more bitter, or more “farty” (think cruciferous veggies like broccoli).
This wiring means kids and growing individuals LOVE sweets. Sweets mean that there are simple sugars, which give immediate energy. Having immediate energy means that you can use your long term energy from starches or proteins to grow and develop. In the evolutionary history of humans, we did not have processed sugar (obviously), but fruits were the holy grail.
As adults, we don’t grow anymore. We still like sweets, since our body is always going to act like we are on the precipice of starvation (this is why your body’s first reaction to eating after losing a lot of weight is to store fat). However, adults might not like sweets as much because of tooth sensitivities.
Other flavors can become more preferable because our nose and mouths are way more developed, so we can also pick up more flavor nuances. Culturally, adults will also prefer food they’ve been exposed to as kids, which can be why it’s important to feed kids a variety of new foods at numerous points in their development!
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