is it possible to educate your palette?
Adult fussy eaters are one of my pet peeves. As someone who loves to eat and who enjoys trying and sharing new foods, I find it difficult to understand how a supposedly mature person can revert to temporary childhood insolence, turning up their noses and contorting their faces when asked to taste new foods.
Why is it that some people are adventurous eaters--able to detect and enjoy every nuance of a food--while others go through life subsiding on a handful of bland and/or sweet treats? Besides being life-sustaining, eating is a highly pleasurable act. But in this country, we're becoming too adept at restricting our food intake and categorizing foods into "good" and "bad." I think this insidious cultural norm, in part, helps kill our ability to enjoy foods.
I do believe it's possible to learn to savor a spectrum of foods--to train or "educate" your palette, just as you might train your muscles for sports performance. Here's why.
We are all born with an affinity for sugar, most likely because we are hard-wired to thrive on lactose-laden mother's milk. On the same note, we don't pop out of the womb craving olives and chocolate. Every other taste--from strained peas to spicy pad Thai--is learned. Over the course of our lives, we slowly develop the ability to savor bitter coffee; to appreciate salty snacks like potato chips and nuts; and to enjoy the pleasant pucker of lemons and limes.
Disliking a few foods is fairly normal. But if the opposite is true--you detest many more foods than you like, it might behoove you--and your health --to try to expand your palette. Try these suggestions.
- Remember: every food has an inherent taste. You would not, for example, expect a tomato to taste like a mushroom. So try not to expect every food to taste like your favorites. Learn to accept--and savor--foods for what they are, just as you accept people for who they are.
- Give it time. It can take time to learn to accept new foods. All little kids make a face when they first taste alcohol for example. Yet most adults have learned to enjoy these palette-stretching drinks. The important thing is to open yourself to the new possibilities.
- When you try a new food, categorize it into one of the 5 basic taste groups--sweet, salty, butter, sour or pungent. Savor each bite slowly and see how its particular flavor intensifies depending on where it sits on your tongue.
- Use your schnozz. Smell food before you eat it, to avoid "ambushing" your palette with an unfamiliar flavor.
- Every food deserves a second chance. If you tried a food once and hated it, try it again. Chances are, you might have tasted a poorly prepared version of the dish. You might like it better the second time around.
- Don't force it. At 43, I'm still trying to acquire a taste for beer! No one can like every food.
38 vegabytes:
I consider myself an adventurous eater, but I'm with you on the beer! I do smell other people's beer when they rave about it, and the smell is enough for me to tell what it tastes like without actually having to swallow it.
I don't know about palettes but I do think it's possible to educate one's palate :)
Mother's milk is not particularly sweet in in the way that candy is, or even a cracker. Lactose is broken down much further in the digestive tract, do we don't "taste" that sweetness the same way. Evolutionary biology has shown that we have a preference for sweet not because of mother's milk, but because once it hits our tongues we immediately know it's a fast energy source (because the amylase in our saliva begins the breakdown process of many sugars right in our mouths), and sweet berries tended not to be poisonous. It was nature's way of encouraging us to eat- we don't even have a "shut off" hormone for sweet to tell us when to stop eating the way we do for other food.
While I agree thats its necessary for kids and adults to try a variety of foods to make sure that they are getting enough of a variety of nutrients, there's absolutely no dietary advangate to forcing yourself as an adult to eat foods you don't like. We live in a world of huge caloric excess. Yes, if you never eat a vegetable, that's a problem. But if you eat some vegetables and don't like others, there's nothing wrong with that. For example, I tried collards recently. Hated them. But I like spinach and escarole and kale. Yes, collards would give me more variety, but life is too short and my needed caloric intake for the day is far too small for me to worry about forcing myself to like a new vegetable. Please don't even get me started on forcing one's self to like a beverage that has absolutely no proven nutritional advantage and of which excess consumption of has been proven to have potentially dire consequences.
We're entitled to not like some things. We're all entitled to our pet peeves, too. Good thing the internet exists.
Hey Jodie:
Thanks for the explanation about mother's milk. Very interesting and enlightening!
I hear you and agree on most of your points. It's the extreme cases that are my pet peeve.
As evidenced in my post, I am not saying that anyone should "force" themselves to try something new. Force is not my style. But I am suggesting that fussy eaters "try" new things--in baby steps--before dismissing new foods with knee-jerk, "no way!"
You say "there's absolutely no dietary advantage to forcing yourself as an adult to eat foods you don't like." I have to disagree there, on the whole, based on my experience with my 3 older siblings, all of whom are fussy eaters. They eat meat, potatoes, processed foods, salty snacks, overcooked veggies and candy with abandon. And all have suffered grave heath problems (lupus, cancer, etc) I would argue that, in their case, learning to like whole grains and properly prepared veggies and foregoing some of their processed staples would almost certainly benefit their health.
Yuu may disagree, but I think we could all stand to expaand our palettes--and our ability to experience pleasure--at least just a tad.
Adult picky eaters drive me nuts. I was one of the fussiest children, but I did that for attention, an I recognize this now. Since becoming a vegan I have opened my eyes and realized the world of fruits and vegetables that I never dared touch. Now I can't imagine my day without a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and grains.
My brother-in-law who is over 20 years older than me simply refuses to eat fruits and vegetables. I am completely astounded that he won't even try them! Unfortunately his son has also inherited his terrible habit. People really have no idea what they're missing in life if they limit themselves. Especially if they refuse to try it even once.
Yes, yes, yes! I couldn't agree with you more! I can't stand adult picky eaters-- I'm not talking about the kind who've tried something several times and have decided they really don't like it, but those who categorically refuse to even try certain groups of food. So frustrating!
In the past year, I've tried to eat vegetables I don't like-- eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, carrots-- and while I don't think I'll ever like carrots and zucchini probably won't be my first pick, I now LOVE eggplant and bell peppers. I'm proof that educating one's palette works, and is a good thing.
I love this post, UV! I think it needs to be said, especially in the vegan community. We have to separate "vegan" from "picky" (or even worse, "disordered eating") in peoples' minds. So many people, upon first hearing that I'm vegan assume that I don't eat much, or I don't like to eat out, or that I pack all my own food before a trip, or I eschew sugar/wheat/caffeine/fat what have you. It's not true! I embrace all foods! I am constantly reminding myself that it can take up to 12 tries before getting used to a new taste- this is how I was with chipotles, cumin, flax, you name it. Now, those are some of my all-time favorite things. When I was a kid, I hated avocados, papayas, and (gasp!) olive oil- am I ever glad that I gave those things second chances!
Great post, lady! :)
picky eaters are by far my biggest pet peeve and since I have a young boy we encounter other children who have obviously already been polluted by their parents 'lack of taste' with this 'up turned nose' and 'ick' sound to things they have obvioulsy never had before. I find it a little culturally disturbing sometimes, imagine these same people trying to survive without their processed goodies. I have seen this in 'vegetarians' as well only eating what is commercially packaged as 'vegetarian'. Sad.
Great post - I agree with you that "pickiness" in adults is an immature behavior (I blame parents who let kids grow up never trying things that look "icky": I once met a woman who was out of college and had never eaten an orange!) We all have innate preferences, but I agree that our palates can be modified. I didn't grow up eating spicy food ever, but now I love it - the hotter the better.
To me this is also part of a larger narrowness in our modern US culture, where knowledge about things foreign (either literally or metaphorically), ancient, or "arcane" are not considered important and often even dismissed as "elitist." As a society we have made a tragic turn away from the mind-expanding ideals of a liberal arts education, and I see this reflected in the way we eat (and travel, and read, and listen to music, etc. etc. etc.).
I also love Bazu's comment about how vegans get lumped with picky eaters too much. I always tell people that I'll try anything, as long as it's not an animal product. But outside of things I don't eat for ethical/health reasons, there's a whole world of lovely and exciting things to try, and people who refuse to try to enjoy them are missing out on a large part of what it means to be human(because, really, enjoying the "foreign" is such a great exercise for our minds and souls!).
Great article and so true. I love the question mark picture!
HAHAHA
Picky eaters are my BIGGEST pet peeve... i just refuse to talk food with them b/c i get frustrated...i mean what do you really have to lose by trying something new??
I know my palatte has changed over the years
Teddy
hahahaaaa! excellent post. i completely agree. it does take time...i have opened myself up to so many different and lovely vegetables over the last several years! sooooo good! your cashew curry recipe looks yummy, and i will be trying that for sure.
Wow, do I agree with this one! I don't understand how someone can eat the flesh or by-product of an ANIMAL, but won't even TRY baba ganoush or a lentil stew.
Actually, I was able to force myself to eat a food I'd hated all my life, the tomato. Grew up with a father who hated them and I couldn't stand them from as early as I can remember, along with onions. Once I became vegetarian, and then vegan, I found it harder and harder to find food that fit my criteria as well as which did not contain tomatoes... so I decided I would just have to force myself to start eating them (or at least, not be repulsed by them). I started out slowly, tasting only a little bit at a time, getting used to the texture (the texture is the worst part of it for tomato haters). Slowly but surely I was able to eat a little more each time, to point where I could eat a little in salads, then inside sandwiches, etc... It's years later now and I can safely say that I now enjoy tomatoes! Never would have thought it possible but just by putting my mind to it and trying to get over it, I did.
Onions are a whole other story though as I have no desire or inclination of ever putting them in my mouth again. Some acquired tastes are just better off not being acquired :)
I agree! I'll eat anything, so long as it's vegan. But I really hate it when people accuse me of being a picky eater because I'm vegan. It seems like many omnis consider our ethical food choices a pain when they have to cook for us. But I think we're just liberated from dead crap.
I totally agree. Quite often, people are put off by certain prepariations, too. Three years ago, I thought I didn't like most veggies... but then I found out it's for the simple reason that my mom is an aweful cook :-P
I don't mean to imply that it's okay health-wise to stick to eating just a few things, but if a person is eating a healthy and varied diet, then from a nutritional standpoint they're doing great health-wise. If I'm going to get heart disease, it's not because I won't eat raw tomatoes, mushrooms and seaweed or drink beer (all of which I've tried multiple times). When we look at the fact that though healthy, these foods are not calorie-free, and if successive attempts at eating them isn't pleasurable and their omission isn't having a negative impact on health, what's the point? The only point would be social, e.g., "show you can be cooperative" or "be better accepted by others who think your behavior is obnoxious." Personally, and as a student of the health professions, I don't see an advantage. In a society where we eat too much to begin with, it seems counterintuitive, provided that one is eating a healthy and varied diet to begin with.
I currently work as a child therapist, and I often run into children who will only eat pancakes and pizza or other foods along those lines. I'm not at all advocating for a diet like that; but I got the impression that this post was more along the lines of adults who don't like sushi or other particular foods, not entire food groups.
I actually call my blog "The Picky Vegan"- I do so because I want to show people that you can be picky about food, be vegan, and still be healthy. I truly believe that, and I'm pretty sure that science can back me on that.
Bravo, well said! I've recently realized that a lot of my own dislikes were actually borne of hearing my dad say how much he would hate certain foods... But I had never even tried them! Now that I've actually gone and tried things like rhubarb and brussel sprouts, two former hates, it turns out they can be pretty damn good when prepared correctly!
As a brand-new vegan (9 days now!) in the Philly-area, I really appreciate this blog!
As far as picky eaters, I am married to one! The man had never tried an onion, cauliflower or avacado (among other things) until he met me!!! But, he has since tried and loved these things and even admitted he liked the taste of almond milk!
So, there is hope yet! :)
I do appreciate your comments and the dialogue, Jodie.
Just because I think people should be open to trying new things doesn't mean that I am advocating overconsumption of food. I'm not. Personally, I'm thin--on the very low end of BMI for my height--but I still love to eat lots of different foods. Curiously, most "picky eaters" I know are on the slightly overweight side.
This post was not about people who don't like a single, particular food. My pet peeve is people who won't try new things and who subsist on an unvaried diet. That's my definition of a picky eater. I think if you try something 6 or 7 times and still hate it, it's safe to say you don't like that food. And as I mentioned in my post, I don't think you have to like everything.
I know you call your blog the Picky Eater, but it sounds to me like you try and eat all kinds of foods--a varied diet. You sound like you're an adventurous eater.
Excellent post! Picky eaters are indeed frustrating. My food adventures grew 10-fold when I became vegan, e.g., I never ate beans before, which I eat every day now. PS I will never love celery!
There's a lot of food that I don't like, generally because of a bitter or "fishy" taste or a texture that I perceive as "slimy." And being vegan, that does sometimes limit my choices when I go out to eat or when others make food for me. I'm also on the overweight end of the spectrum. So's my mom, and she'll try pretty much anything. I understand that it annoys my friends when I won't eat the mushroom based dish that they've prepared (though I try to be polite/discrete about such things- there's no excuse for rudeness) or when I go out to lunch with omni friends and we have to try to think of a place that serves something vegan that's not made of mushrooms (or anything else on my list that I won't eat, which where I'm originally from can be a tall order). The idea that I should try the grilled portabello when I know that I don't like mushrooms (even if I haven't tried this one), and I have to waste both my money and the very few calories that I need per day on something that I don't like in order not to spark other's pet peeves really doesn't seem especially fair, though.
I get really defensive because I require so few calories per day to keep my weight even just in the moderately overweight range that I really don't want to waste them on something I even think I'm not going to like. Granted, I understand on an intellectual level that I need to eat lots of veggies, so I make an effort to branch out and try new things that are similar to veggies that I do like, but I'm still pretty picky. I know that trying a little of a new leafy green isn't going to pack on the pounds, and I also know I don't have to eat it if I don't like it. But eating nori sushi just because it will make my friends happy when I'm not going to enjoy it- that's very bad for my waist line, because we're talking some significant calories there. I know from growing up as an omni on Cape Cod that I don't like the taste, the smell or the sight of fishy type foods (and for me, that includes seaweed)- why should I try it in order to not annoy people?
I really, really, really don't mean to sound hostile or anything- I think it's also a valuable discussion!
I used to be such a picky eater, but veganism has really "awakened" my taste buds. I will now try anything once. Funny enough though, my guess is that there are omnivores out there that think vegans are picky eaters and we should broaden our palettes to eat meat. Of course, this arguement makes absolutely no sense to me.
Anyways, interesting post. Maybe I'll give papaya another try... it's pretty much the only fruit I dislike at this point.
The other day one of my coworkers wouldn't try the cookies I had made because they didn't look like any cookie she had ever made before...
Amen!
I'm not a P.E., but in defense of some: I find some picky eaters are also people who have some sort of digestive pain (IBS etc.) - so they're in the habit of eating only a small range of foods that they know won't irritate them, and those foods are often bland or processed.
Brava my dear- I wholeheartedly agree. It's not about the picky eater per se, but those who are completely unwilling to try that boggles the mind.
I had read sometime ago that picky adults developed from babies who were not exposed to different textures & varied tastes. My sister is a picky eater, but at least now that she is older she is more open to trying something before dismissing it- thank goodness.
i LOVE this post? Can I repost it on my website?
happyherbivore.com
email happyherbivore@gmail.com with permission if so!
thanks!
I was the worst offender- until I started to cook for a hobby! It opened my eyes to appreciating certain foods for what they were. I say no to nothing (foodwise!) as that is stupid.. How can you judge, until you try it?
I hate olives, seaweed and beer but I'm up for anything else!
Great article, and I love the picture!
I've always been one of those horrible picky eaters, but I've found veganism has severely broadened my horizons & I eat a ton of things I never thought I would! I still can't do raw onions or anything in the fennel / liquorice / celery family, but compared to my past, it's pretty amazing.
Add me to the beer list. I feel the same about red wine. Eew.
Great post! I heartily agree!
It's definitely possible! When I started dieting, I had to acclimate myself to soy and tofu. Until a month or two ago, I had always hated lettuce and other raw vegetables (with the exception of carrots) and now I just can't get enough. It makes me slightly irritated to see somebody like my twenty-seven-year-old brother, who eats nothing but hamburgers, steakumms, chicken nuggets, and potato chips/fries for his meals. Health issues aside, his pleas of "I just don't like anything else" ring hollow when, the last time he tried said foods, he was six years old.
I totally agree that it is a complete and utter pet peeve of mine as well when grown adults won't even try a new food! I can't even wrap my head around that one, because I'll try anything, that isn't animal derived ;). I took a Moroccan chickpea salad to my parents house the other day and I asked my dad to try. He said he didn't like chickpeas and I asked if he had ever tried them. He replied, "No, but they look nasty". Can you believe that?! Things like that just make me want to scream, I have no tolerance for that kind of behavior. Then again, vegans are the picky eaters, right? Haha.
I was a horribly picky eater up until I went vegan at 17. Then I was forced to eat foods I never would have touched before. If I hadn't started eating all sorts of vegetables, I would have starved. Now I like pretty much everything--it's as if my taste buds have finally woken up.
Post a Comment