How Taste Evolves

Taste is a complex subject. A lot of components go into how our body senses flavors. While many people believe only the taste bud sensors on the tongue are involved in this process, there is more at work. Smell also contributes, which is why food tastes differently when someone has a cold. Those who attend culinary arts programs online have a vested interested in taste, and should learn the inner workings of it to help them refined their own palate and those of others.

Once you learn how taste works, it’s important to understand that it evolves as people age. Here is some insight into the process:

Youth

It’s a simple fact that most young children love sweets. They can eat candy and other treats morning, noon and night. Well, now there is scientific evidence that children are hardwired to love sweets.

“We know that the newborn can detect sweet and will actually prefer sweeter solutions to less sweet ones,” Julie Mennella, of the Monell Chemical Senses Center, told NPR. The basic biology of the child is that they don’t have to learn to like sweet or salt. It’s there from before birth.”

Calorie-dense foods like sweets are necessary for kids to reach adolescence, which is why they crave them.

Adolescence and beyond

At this stage people become more adventurous eaters. According to Bon Appetit, you start to connect food to memories and rely less on your physical reaction to bitterness. At this point, which reaches to young adulthood, people begin to give up their food aversions to things like cauliflower and Brussel​s sprouts.

Food also becomes more of a social experience. As you become older and go out with friends, you’ll want to try more things, like particular foods and other cuisines. You may even begin to like dark chocolate and leafy greens as your aversion to bitterness subsides.

Age 40 and up

Taste buds go through a birth cycle, according to Bon Appetit. Every two weeks, they die and are reborn. However, this process stops around age 40. This causes food to become blander. This varies from person to person, and some may lose their taste buds at a higher rate and others will be slower. Your sense of smell also starts to fades around middle age and it requires more creativity to keep foods interesting during his point in life.

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