Who likes bitter food and drink? (diet, frozen, health, coffee)

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

I sometimes wonder if people, especially men, go for bitter food or drink to see how much they can stand.

[jlawrence01]

Well, I like bitter greens like dandelions early in the season. It is a taste preference as opposed to a "how bitter can you tolerate."

[sskink]

Who likes bitter food and drink?

Pretty much the entire world except for the US & Canada.

Balance of flavors and textures is something most world cuisines aim for.

[eureka1]

I used to love Schweppes' Bitter Lemon. Haven't seen it in years.

[smokingGun]

the older i get the more I'm able to appreciate bitter foods & drinks. My cocktail of choice right now is variations on Negroni's. Bitter definitely is an acquired taste and I bet it has to do with desensitization of your taste buds as you age. Ppl in their teens & 20's probably have different physiological sensations of taste than those twice their age.

[burdell]

Different folks have different ideas of 'bitter', a friend's wife would call a cup of coffee bitter without 5-6 sugars being added to a cup, I haven't used sugar in coffee in 40 years and don't find it bitter at all.

[saibot]

You do adapt to different tastes. Many people in the US are so used to added sugar in everything that plain, unsweetened foods can taste bitter to them.

I used to drink Diet Coke every day. Gave it up 6 years ago after a health crisis and switched to unsweetened green tea. At first, it tasted horribly bitter, but I got used to it. If I think about it there is still a slight bitter taste but mostly it is just refreshing.

I remember Schweppes Bitter Lemon. I loved that.

I do realize that some people have a congenital taste bud issue that makes some vegetables taste unbearably bitter. But I think most of the people who hate brussels sprouts, etc., have just never given themselves enough time to acquire the taste.

[burdell]

Originally Posted by saibot

You do adapt to different tastes. Many people in the US are so used to added sugar in everything that plain, unsweetened foods can taste bitter to them.

I used to drink Diet Coke every day. Gave it up 6 years ago after a health crisis and switched to unsweetened green tea. At first, it tasted horribly bitter, but I got used to it. If I think about it there is still a slight bitter taste but mostly it is just refreshing.

I remember Schweppes Bitter Lemon. I loved that.

I do realize that some people have a congenital taste bud issue that makes some vegetables taste unbearably bitter. But I think most of the people who hate brussels sprouts, etc., have just never given themselves enough time to acquire the taste.

I think some of that is also cooking methods, years ago it seems green vegetables were far more likely to be cooked until they attained that sickly gray shade of green, doesn't seem so common anymore. After all, what you're cooking is already dead, no need to kill it all over again.

[Cnote11]

There is a world's difference between fresh and canned that a lot of people buy too... canned brussels sprouts really aren't great... fresh ones on the other hand!

Anyway, I love bitter foods and not because I want to see how much I can take. I'm an avid tea drinker (although tea isn't necessarily bitter), I love bitter sodas, bitter greens, bitter desserts, fruits etc. I agree that other places I go in the world seem to be better at eating bitter things than here in the USA.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by Cnote11

There is a world's difference between fresh and canned that a lot of people buy too... canned brussels sprouts really aren't great... fresh ones on the other hand!

Canned Brussels sprouts? That one is new to me as generally, they are frozen. Learn something new everyday.