The “kids don’t like broccoli” has a scientific reason. Kids have a lot more receptors for aromas tasting bitter (10 to 15k different chemical compounds taste bitter to them) which reduce to 5k or less when growing up. So some types of food that adults can eat without problems because they lack the receptors have bitter and vile flavours for kids.
I always assumed this is also why adults love disgusting cheese (I do to a degree as well nowadays). We just lost our sense of taste and call it refined taste.
The “losing taste” is actually a beneficial thing. Most things that kids don’t like are either risky (e.g. coffee) or difficult to digest (all kinds of cabbage), so it is good that kids don’t like them. For adults being able to expand acceess to available foods helps feeding the horde in difficult times.
Plant breeders have also been busy reducing bitterness/tannins in various vegetables like brussel sprouts and canola oil, so things are in fact less bitter than 30 years ago.
I’m mostly familiar with animal feed, where nutritional quality weighs quite heavy during selection. For human consumption I assume there are some base nutritional standards when applying to enter the market with a new breed, but might heavily depend on your region.
Brussels Sprouts are another one… I don’t think I had properly cooked Brussels sprouts until I was in my mid-to-late-20s, and they’ve become one of my favorite vegetables. They’re so fucking good dude.
The “kids don’t like broccoli” has a scientific reason. Kids have a lot more receptors for aromas tasting bitter (10 to 15k different chemical compounds taste bitter to them) which reduce to 5k or less when growing up. So some types of food that adults can eat without problems because they lack the receptors have bitter and vile flavours for kids.
Doesn’t help a lot of people used to just boil broccoli without seasoning. Doesn’t do the flavor any favors.
My stepmother was that way so I couldn’t stand broccoli growing up. Most vegetables were blan and tasteless without salt and boiled.
I rarely buy them now because I can’t physically handle cooking every day now. So most vegetables go bad in the fridge.
I always assumed this is also why adults love disgusting cheese (I do to a degree as well nowadays). We just lost our sense of taste and call it refined taste.
The “losing taste” is actually a beneficial thing. Most things that kids don’t like are either risky (e.g. coffee) or difficult to digest (all kinds of cabbage), so it is good that kids don’t like them. For adults being able to expand acceess to available foods helps feeding the horde in difficult times.
So I was right to avoid the golumpkis
(They really aren’t bad… but cooked cabbage smell is scary to a child)
Plant breeders have also been busy reducing bitterness/tannins in various vegetables like brussel sprouts and canola oil, so things are in fact less bitter than 30 years ago.
Any word on if this impacts nutrition?
I’m mostly familiar with animal feed, where nutritional quality weighs quite heavy during selection. For human consumption I assume there are some base nutritional standards when applying to enter the market with a new breed, but might heavily depend on your region.
Brussels Sprouts are another one… I don’t think I had properly cooked Brussels sprouts until I was in my mid-to-late-20s, and they’ve become one of my favorite vegetables. They’re so fucking good dude.
That’s interesting. Do you have any sources on this phenomenon?
This one, for example: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4654709/
Or this one: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22197939/
Originally, I had read a cluster of those articles some years ago, but scientific articles like to hide behind paywalls nowadays.
And at old age, it ends like this: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/05/05/526750174/why-taste-buds-dull-as-we-age
his source is that he made it the fuck up!
~(MGR:R joke)~