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Location: By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vision33r
I think 95% of Americans would never eat natto from Japan. Which is fermented soy beans that is sticky and high in probiotics. Yet Japanese have problems with blue cheeses here. It's all acquired taste. I'm one of few people I have virtually no fear of any foods and my palate is wide open. I can sample foods around the world and taste their uniqueness.
I agree, I acquired some Roquefort and loved it from day one!
Our heritage is "white foods"---that's the Swedish way. White potatoes, fish, herring, sour cream, cardamom bread....
My mom didn't do any of the traditional Swedish foods though. She favored very bland, boring cooking. So I went the opposite direction to try new, different foods, plus the traditional Swedish ones.
I rarely eat the foods I grew up with. Except I wouldn't mind a tater-tot now and then!
Inherited traits like lactose intolerance, would certainly have something to do with it.
Re watermelon, to me it's the mushy texture, not the flavor which is OK when it actually HAS any flavor. I never buy it. Too much of a crap shoot. Same with bananas---texture is gag-worthy to me.
Yeh, with watermelon it's the styrofoam mush texture as well as the sour or just "off" flavor. If it tasted sweet like cantaloupe I'd eat it. Besides, cantaloupe when it's just ripe enough, has good, more firm texture.
Bleu cheese=I could eat a bucket load of that stuff, bananas too. Northern European here. I love most cheeses except for some of those really smelly ones, but that is not genetic, I don't think. Once when I was in the north of Germany there was a local cheese that had an awful stink. A man who really loved it had a daughter who made fun of it because to her it smelled like poop. Maybe loving that stinky cheese was one of those preferences that make people feel brave because they eat it, the risk takers and adventure seekers.
I think it's a combination of nature vs. nuture and exposure vs acquired taste. I'm Irish native growing up in northern Europe and ate good variety of food as i was also exposed to different food/cusines in my travels, also the fact my father owned several different restaurants helped me expand my variety of food.
no one has mentioned pregnancy and exposure to food/tastes while pregnant; i firmly believe it plays a factor as well. My oldest kid is by far our most adventureous eater, even more so than i was at his age as he LOVES all kinds of seafood, hard shell, and octoupus, clams and the like as a 10 year old. i never had morning sickness, nausea, or any aversion to any food while pregnant with him. Then while i was pregnant with my 2nd kid, i had constant "morning" sickness, nausea, and barely ate anything with a strong aversion to most food i loved, and result of that is a very picky kid with mile long list of allergns. Food that he is allergic were also food i had the strongest negative reaction while pregnant with him, so it makes me wonder.
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