August 26, 2007
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Dear Internet,
There is a problem that has troubled me for a great many years now, and which has completely confounded me every time I attempt to resolve it by thinking about it. The answer has proved to be effectively out of the range of my speculative radar.
Here is the apparent conundrum, which puzzles me so thoroughly: how is that people taste things differently? What I mean by that is, when two people try the exact same food, how is that one is able to like the taste, while the other dislikes the taste? Is it not the same taste?
When you eat something, do you not assume that what you perceive to be the food’s taste is also its normative taste? Thus, if you find the food sapid, and another finds it foul, yet it is the same taste, where does the difference occur? Rather, how can a difference occur? There seems to be a variable missing that would allow for the taste to differ among tasters.
I truly fail to comprehend how, given a single taste, two people could taste the same taste, and one could enjoy it while the other detests it. The taste ought to be the same to them!!
Your truly,
Confused in Ohio
Comments (8)
Personal preferance. Why does one person like a movie and another hate it? Isn’t it the same movie?
Memory could interfere. If someone has a bad memory associated with a taste, then anything that reminds them of that bad memory is in jeopardy of being disliked. I hate bananas for that reason.
Personal perference…. I don’t think so…humans are born with a genetic code that determines how many of each taste receptor they have (i.e. how many “salty” or “sweet” tastebuds they have.
This means that each person has a unique perception of how food tastes – so what is bitter to you may be sweet nectar to me. Did you know we have about 10,000 taste buds on our tongues. And all my buds LOVE chocolate!! : )
Excellent post!!
It’s the same with music, or any art… everyone is seeing the same thing, just different reactions. It is the same part of the brain that makes people react different to phrases. Basically the deep root of our individuality and free will.
haha at Charlotte’s comment!
I think it’s the same thing for color. What is blue to some may look different to others. But it is still blue. Our perception of something changes from person to person, but that doesnt change what it is. I agree with the first person’s comment.
God didnt make us individuals by accident. If everyone liked seafood for example (by the way i detest it), we would be slightly less unique and diverse.
I suppose the whole “taste bud” thing should serve me a great deal in explaining it. The group of nine-year-olds I asked this morning were all over the taste buds explanation.
But I don’t think the food situation is comparable to arts, music, and movies. Those things do indeed looks a certain way statically, but whether you like or dislike its appearance is completely added to it. In food we can be more objective, where certain things are supposedly “good” (candy, cake, Wendy’s) and other things are bad, and yet people’s acceptance of these foods still vary. Wheras art is the ultimate realm of subjectivity, food is supposed to retain some sort of hierarchy of taste that I would have guessed is more uniform, but in fact isn’t.
Thanks everyone for commenting!
Taste can vary at the cellular level. Physiology can account for some of it–perhaps some of it is due to allergic reaction. The idea of eating fungus (mushrooms) can cause us to detest the food.
It is the same thing as the appearance of colors, appreciation for art or music, books or music.
There is an objective reality of a food – it contains salt, sugar, fat, chocolate, milk, etc., it was processed by mixing and freezing, it is distributed via a cardboard carton and scooped into a dish or cone.
Then there is the subjective nature – is the taster lacto intolerant, did they have a traumatic experience relating somehow, even subconciously, with chocolate ice cream when a child, does the taster have sensitive teeth, is their palette just untrained to appreciate the exquisite taste of UDF swiss chocolate almond, etc., are they distracted by trying to prepare (either themselves, or another) for the first day of school?
So many factors, so little time for analysis…
Well Phil, that is a very good question! Did you know that your nose is what actually allows you to taste food? so perhaps someone who likes yuckie food just happends to have a stuffy nose. Also, as you age your taste buds do not completely reproduce, so instead of having 10,000 taste buds an older person may only have 5,000. This could account for kids not liking “strong” flavored foods but then liking the same food as an adult (they can no longer truly taste the taste they didn’t like) There is also the idea that food does taste the same to each person, but because of personal preference some people don’t like salty or spicy foods and so on. Also, some people would argue that you have to train your palette in order to appreciate some foods, such as gourmet meals and such. But also, pay close attention to what people usually say when they don’t like food. “ew its green” has nothing to do with taste. I for example often don’t like food based on its texture, which has nothing to do with the way the food tastes, only on the way it feels in my mouth. Good thinking Phil!!