I’ve always wondered how people even within similar cultures have vastly different independent tastes when it comes to music, food and drink. Surely, things like “white people have a hard time eating spicy food” could exist due to evolutionary, biological, or cultural factors, but that isn’t what I’m talking about.
No, I’m referring to why is it the case that even within the same family, I hate grape tomatoes but my mother loves them? Surely it’s more based on development & experience. And it’s obvious there are clear examples of this. For example I used to love guacamole, but that changed when the Oberlin Dining Halls tried to kill me and gave me food poisoning. Similarly I got sick from eating a grilled cheese in my early childhood, and I proceeded to not eat grilled cheese again for 15 years.
Another example is going to be so-called acquired tastes, ones that are fairly complex and require some base level experience consuming before they can be appreciated. In this category I would put things like sushi (sea urchin/uni), craft beers, bourbon/ither whisky, maybe other uncommon delicacies? Definitely pungent cheeses too (Shout out Dgurg!)
For these, some issue for folks could be a separation from what is expected and what it really tastes like. The same way if you drink something expecting lemonade, and you get milk, you may like both but still have an unappealing drink experience this time.
But others, is perhaps an issue of certain textures like mushrooms for example. The taste itself isn’t so bad, but its the texture that repels in some cases. (Out of time for now but I will revisit this at some point).
