It's an aquired taste

[Flyingcursor]

Why does that phrase exist?

Why would anyone try something twice if they didn't like it the first time?

Why would anyone try to aquire a taste for something?

For example, I used to hate hot food. I mean peppery hot food. Yet I kept trying it until I liked it.

Why do we do that? Did every whiskey drinker on this site love the taste the first time? If not then why did you try it again?

Did everyone here like roller coasters? [SEX-1021]?

Is it all game theory in action?

[Jeferson]

answer #1: social behaviour

[Innocent Bystander]

If you taste enough of something that you don't like, it can prime your taste buds.

For instance: two weeks after first tasting a black olive I thought "I'd really like an olive" despite that fact that I was revolted by the taste originally. I like black olives and green olives. My wife doesn't like either.

A similar thing happened when I first tasted Karela - bitter gourd. It's a while since I've had some, but it makes my mouth water to think of it. Indians say that only Indians like it.

I set out to acquire the taste for Guinness, and did so successfully. Only to learn later that the water-retentive/diuretic qualities make lighter beers a preference, at least for me.

The clincher is, if you are hungry enough you'll eat anything.

[Bloomfield]

Deeper satisfaction comes from effort. Instead of "acquired taste" think of grown taste: you know, the stuff grows on you. Just like Bloomfield.

[chas]

For me, many of the things I like the most are things I really disliked when I first tried them.

Of course, the primary reason I tried things again and again is that my parents made me try a little of everything and I couldn't leave the table or have dessert until I finished everything on my plate.

Then there was college food. Eat it or starve.

Then there was music. Especially in college, one had to hear unpleasant things over and over again if ones friends had different taste in music. I gave as good as I got, and there are at least a few Steeleye Span fans out there who never would have heard them (over and over) if it wasn't for me.

So I learned in my first 20 years or so that I could actually like something that I didn't like initially, and continued to try things I didn't like. I'm not stupid about it or anything, I mean I haven't tried a Brussels sprout.

Some of the things I love that I hated when I first tried them:

Broccoli
Chinese food
Green peppers
Onions
Gentle Giant
Yes
Kielbasa
Indian food
Emmylou Harris
Tomatoes

These are all things that are central to my life.

[Bloomfield]

Brussels Sprouts are great. One of the best veggies there is.

[djm]

Smoking cigarettes was terrible, but I used to get mildly stoned from it. So I smoked some more. My friends and I all smoked. Eventually it required more and more cigarettes to get that buzz. Then I just smoked to feel good. I smoked more and more. Then I just smoked to feel normal. After a while I just smoked. It was a part of me. I couldn't imagine myself not smoking. I had acquired a taste for it. Why would I stop?

The alcohol in beer and wine and liquor was terrible. I still cannot abide the paint remover smell of Bristol cream sherry. Wine turns my stomach, especially red wines. But beer? I learned to hold my breath to avoid the smell of the alcohol and learned to guzzle beer. We all drank beer, my friends and I, because it was cheap and it got us smashed. We would be falling down, drooling, puking hulks. Surely this was a good time, wasn't it? And once we were used to the alcohol, we were able to swill liquor, too. I couldn't imagine myself not drinking. I had acquired a taste for it. Why would I stop?

I learned to consume all manner of substances (which I shall not name here) that were terrible at first, but I was able to get used to them in time. Taking terrible things and getting used to them is something that any of us is capable of doing: like working for a living. But the thing is, I'm not sure that this is such a clever way to "acquire a taste" for something. Just because I can does not necessarily justify my doing so.

Fortunately, I still hate salads.

djm

[Lambchop]

Brussels Sprouts are great. One of the best veggies there is.

This is true. They're like little cabbages, only a bit better.

Avoid them if overcooked. Buy small ones and steam them whole or halved until they turn bright green. Serve with butter or a side of mayonnaise.

[mutepointe]

Taste buds change over time. I love anchovies and when I offer them to some people, they say, "I don't like anchovies." So I ask them when the last time was they ate an anchovy and they say either, "Never" or "When I was a kid." Some of the same people each caviar because caviar is all hoity-toity.

[cowtime]

Why would anyone try something twice if they didn't like it the first time?

Which is why I never drink beer. If I have to "get use to it" I don't want it.

Strangely (or not) I never had that reaction with red dry wines. Those I love.

I honestly can't think of any foods that I now like that I haven't always liked from the get go.

the stuff grows on you. Just like Bloomfield.

So that's what that is. Should I cancel the biopsy?

[Caroluna]

Why would anyone try something twice if they didn't like it the first time?

Why would anyone try to aquire a taste for something?

Lots of times if one of my friends is crazy about something (a book or a kind of music or food) I'll keep trying it until I start to develop some appreciation. I want to get that window into their minds / hearts. "Why do you like this so much??"

When I try to experience that, it's like my brain is being stretched. Like in yoga? Sometimes the mental flexibility increases very slowly.

Ex. my husband likes some books it's taken me 10 yrs to appreciate

[DCrom]

Coffee
Beer
ANY spicy food
Pizza
Cheese
Green olives (always liked the black ones)
I could go on and on . . .

I was a terribly picky kid. In retrospect, I'm amazed my family didn't strangle me out of the frustration of trying to get me to try new foods (I'm sure they were tempted!).

These days, I'm a fairly adventurous eater, and will try most things at least once. There are a few things that I liked as a child that I don't like as much now (mostly sweets), but many (most?) of my favorite foods today were things I absolutely loathed the first time I tried them.

There are still a few things that I don't like (natto, lutefisk, large amounts of picked herring), but at least I've given them a chance. And yes, sometimes it's an immediate "ugh!" followed by an "I'd really like some XXXX" a few weeks later.

I've noticed that there are some foods I only like occasionally, too. Most of the time I have no interest in sardines, for instance, but every once in a while I really want a can of sardines and some rye flatbread, a really pungent blue cheese, or something else that I normally pass on.

[anniemcu]

Brussels Sprouts are great. One of the best veggies there is.

When they are good, they are very, very good. When they are bad, they are horrid!

[Jayhawk]

Great, now I'm craving Brussel sprouts. Luckily, they're on the Christmas menu.

My wife read something (not sure where, so who knows the validity of the information) that taste buds and your brain often need 3+ attempts to adjust to foods you are not accustomed to.

One of my son's friends, now 9, was a vegetarian (because his parents were) for the first 3 -4 years of his life - he's not a vegetarian anymore, but that kids loves every veggie and fruit known to man.

I wonder how many of the foods we initially don't like are foods we never ate in our early childhood years? In addition, this might explain why things like beer, coffee, and spicy foods are an aquired taste in America (where most kids don't have these things). In contrast, my son loves spicy foods - Chinese, Thai, Indian, Vietnamese - likely because my wife and I eat those all the time and so Devan has eaten them since he could eat solid foods. He'll have to learn to like beer and coffee when he is older, but he likes a good cup of hot tea (oolong, yunnan, etc.).

Eric

[anniemcu]

... but he likes a good cup of hot tea (oolong, yunnan, etc.).

Eric

Oh great! Speaking of 'an acquired taste', now I'm craving a cup of Lapsang Suchong.

I must have forgotten what old railroad ties steeped in boiling water tastes like.