Is there any correlation whatsoever between the taste of food/vs. its value to you?

[Realitycheck]

My knee jerk response is of course not. But why do some people dislike some vegetables so vehemently? Surely, it is one of those childhood things that just develops and, in most cases, wanes as people get older.

[1veedo]

I don't like most vegetables. Potatoes, corn, and ceasar salad are good though. Most people don't like vegetables probably because most aren't rich in much of anything but water.

[Realitycheck]

I know. It was a pretty stupid question. I'm starting to scrawl marks on the jail wall. Don't really have any idea how much of my powers will be restored once it is all said and done, but they said they were all Nedly on me. We'll see what happens.

[swansont]

The answer to the question changes dramatically if you go back a few (thousand) years, before processed foods. The stuff that's bad for us now did have more value in the context of a hunter-gatherer's diet.

[ydoaPs]

The answer to the question changes dramatically if you go back a few (thousand) years, before processed foods. The stuff that's bad for us now did have more value in the context of a hunter-gatherer's diet.

 

So, fatty foods taste good because they are high in calories?

[Realitycheck]

Oh yeah, no processed foods for me. That was already on my list for some time now. Right now, I am somewhat craving some wheat bread. For the past few days, I was eating the same spartan diet and feeling the effects more and more till I finally cooked this broccoli. I'm starting to think that maybe I have a wheat gluten deficiency, but the truth most likely is that I could have been a lot more diverse in my shopping list. Multivitamins only do so much for you.

[Bignose]

So, fatty foods taste good because they are high in calories?

 

That's the general idea. If you are a being whose meals may very well be few and far between, you would want that rare meal to be as beneficial as possible. So, you would prefer a meal that has as many calories as possible. Fats and sugars are prime candidates here. And, we can't quite undo all those years of evolution that told us that calorie-rich foods were awesome, even though now meals (for the average middle-class American) aren't few and far between.

[Realitycheck]

Actually, sugars are quite the opposite, but cold water fish like salmon have the best fats of all. Fats are much more calorie dense, having 12 calories per gram vs. 4 calories for sugars and proteins. Therefore, fat could be considered an efficient source of energy, if it wasn't for all of the details associated with fats.

[iNow]

Besides our natural desire for fatty foods and sweet treats, almost all of our food likes and dislikes were conditioned. If you were brought up sampling diverse foods from many cultures and trying new exotic things, you'll eat much more than the kids who were raised eating only one or two things... being finicky.

 

I love vegetables. The rawer the better. No dressing. However, my grandmother had a garden that I'd help her tend, and I loved pulling stuff off the vine and eating it right there. To this day I eat tomatoes like apples and can't help myself from grabbing a raw pea pod or green bean when I see them in the produce section at the store.

 

Our tendencies evolved long before supermarkets. Those that packed on a few when the food was available tended to outlast those that didn't, so although we have tendencies and inclinations toward certain food types, we generally like or dislike vegetables because of how we were raised.

[ParanoiA]

My father has always made the case that people should be eating what they need rather than "eating what tastes good". He says we put too much focus on taste, when we should be focusing on what we know we need. And we will eventually enjoy the taste of those foods, like veggies, the same way we enjoy the fatty stuff.

 

He does consider a banana a candy bar. And of course, grapenuts with yogurt has long been a desert favorite of his...yuck.

[swansont]

So, fatty foods taste good because they are high in calories?

 

Basically, yes. I'm sure there are exceptions and caveats, but it shouldn't be surprising that in an environment where calories are harder to come by, a fat craving (fat having a higher calorie density) might evolve.

 

My father has always made the case that people should be eating what they need rather than "eating what tastes good". He says we put too much focus on taste, when we should be focusing on what we know we need. And we will eventually enjoy the taste of those foods, like veggies, the same way we enjoy the fatty stuff.

 

He does consider a banana a candy bar. And of course, grapenuts with yogurt has long been a desert favorite of his...yuck.

 

Again, though, this runs counter to our more remote history. The availability of spices and sugar and other additives is a relatively recent development. A lot of food is pretty bland, which is one reason why (especially in the absense of those items) people eat marrow, organ meat, and let food rot a little before eating it. Spices are a substitute for that.

 

I think the banana — candy bar comparison underscores this point. Fruit generally tastes good, since it has sugar (fructose) in it. What we've done with a candy bar is substituted processed sugar to satisfy that same craving. The problem is that we've tossed out the nutrition, and can't distinguish based on nutrition content. We're defeating the instincts that developed and worked for hundreds of thousands of years.

 

Actually, sugars are quite the opposite, but cold water fish like salmon have the best fats of all. Fats are much more calorie dense, having 12 calories per gram vs. 4 calories for sugars and proteins. Therefore, fat could be considered an efficient source of energy, if it wasn't for all of the details associated with fats.

 

IIRC fats have 9 calories per gram. But the point that all fats aren't the same, nutrition-wise, is a very important point.