Is the "gene" thing true regarding certain foods?

Spanish Eyes

I would eat anything. Just.

But I cannot eat the following without gagging....

Celery
Cucumber
Raw red, green, and yellow peppers
Brussels Sprouts or cabbage.

Am I unusual or just daft?

Anyone else the same...

nozzferrahhtoo

No there is a lot of good science behind the idea that genetically people have differences in taste. For example for some people cilantro taste like soap. In school in 3rd year biology we did taste testing with cucumber and about 50% of the class described cucumber as entirely tasteless..... 40% that it had a taste but was mild..... but 10% that it had a powerful and horrible taste. I am in the 40%.

There is also the phenomenon of "super tasters".

Spanish Eyes

nozzferrahhtoo wrote: »

No there is a lot of good science behind the idea that genetically people have differences in taste. For example for some people cilantro taste like soap. In school in 3rd year biology we did taste testing with cucumber and about 50% of the class described cucumber as entirely tasteless..... 40% that it had a taste but was mild..... but 10% that it had a powerful and horrible taste. I am in the 40%.

There is also the phenomenon of "super tasters".

That was an interesting clip, but I am not sure if I am just "fussy".

Then again, my sister loves cucumber and all the raw peppers, I cannot abide them.. So our genes seem opposite! Or maybe one sided?

Kale, brussels sprouts and cabbage turn my stomach too.

Broccoli is ok though, strangely enough!

nozzferrahhtoo

Fussy is one thing. Gagging is an entirely different thing If certain foods make you gag, I think that is way beyond merely being fussy. I myself can not stand the sight or smell of, or eat anything that has been touched by, Heinz Baked Beans. The taste and consistency of it is so sickeningly disturbing to me that I know I am not being merely fussy. I literally hate the stuff

Genetics can vary wildly, even within siblings or even twins. Either because you got different ones, or because you both have the same but they are only "expressed" in one of you for any number of reasons. It is a complex subject and unfortunately not one for the cooking forum so I better leave it at that lest I attract the ire of the mods.

folamh

A genetic explanation can't account for changing taste. Up until last year, I always liked cucumber. Now for some reason I don't like it at all. Many of the foods I like now, I couldn't abide when I was younger. Biology probably does play a role, but overall it seems like taste is more down to to memory-associations and other environmental factors.

duploelabs

folamh wrote: »

A genetic explanation can't account for changing taste. Up until last year, I always liked cucumber. Now for some reason I don't like it at all. Many of the foods I like now, I couldn't abide when I was younger. Biology probably does play a role, but overall it seems like taste is more down to to memory-associations and other environmental factors.

Yes, our palates do change over the years, for example babies have taste buds on the insides of their cheeks which they lose over time

MartyMcFly84

Tastes change over time. I remember hating coriander and courgette as a kid and now I love them. Or sometimes tastes grow on you. I doubt many people really liked coffee or beer the first time they tried it.

A lot of not liking something is a mental block. Often coming from an unpleasant experience maybe as a kid. Its often visual or comes from the smell. As adults we experience this more commonly by not being able to drink certain alcoholic beverages that we once over indulged on, and now the sight or smell makes us gag.

I know people who have told me they hated certain things to the point of gagging if you offered it to them (onions for example) , but happily ate them when they were mixed into a dish or did not know they were there.

ameliams

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

I would eat anything. Just.

But I cannot eat the following without gagging....

Celery
Cucumber
Raw red, green, and yellow peppers
Brussels Sprouts or cabbage.

Am I unusual or just daft?

Anyone else the same...

Celery is the only thing on your list that does the same to me. It has such a strong chemical acidic taste to me. Every time I try it to see if things have changed I'm hit with the same reaction. I always feel as if it's been dropped in a bottle of bleach or something.

It's the only food I get this from, I love cucumber and could eat a stick a day.

And I don't get that soapy taste from coriander either.

nozzferrahhtoo

folamh wrote: »

A genetic explanation can't account for changing taste. Up until last year, I always liked cucumber. Now for some reason I don't like it at all.

It can actually. Genes maybe fixed but how they are expressed is not. They are "turned on" and off by many factors over our life, like changes in certain hormone levels. So it is entirely possible that any genetic element for taste can be changeable over ones life-span. As I said above, complex subject, but it is a general error that people make to think that something being genetic means it is fixed and should not change over time.

hardCopy

nozzferrahhtoo wrote: »

Fussy is one thing. Gagging is an entirely different thing If certain foods make you gag, I think that is way beyond merely being fussy. I myself can not stand the sight or smell of, or eat anything that has been touched by, Heinz Baked Beans. The taste and consistency of it is so sickeningly disturbing to me that I know I am not being merely fussy. I literally hate the stuff

Genetics can vary wildly, even within siblings or even twins. Either because you got different ones, or because you both have the same but they are only "expressed" in one of you for any number of reasons. It is a complex subject and unfortunately not one for the cooking forum so I better leave it at that lest I attract the ire of the mods.

Gagging can be overcome. I forced myself to let certain flavours grow on me. E.g. fish just by building up from shamefully small pieces of fish buried in other dishes or sauces to the point where I can now eat a full fish even with the skin bones and head left on.

When I was younger I would gag to the point of spitting out my fish fingers.

Lovely Bloke

Yes, it's genetic, but I'm surprised the people saying Cucumber are not also saying Melons - I can eat neither, and even if Cucumber has been on a plate then removed, I need a new plate and everything the cucumber has touched to be replaced.

Coriander too, vile stuff. Celery as well, it makes me retch.

Can't drink coffee either.

Brassicas though, I love em, love em, love em - so much so that I'll eat cabbage stalks raw, and broccoli stem too, cut it up into discs and add to a stir fry. Sprouts I'll eat by the truckload.

pwurple

Coffee and banana are mine. Coffee, the drink, tastes like burn or carbon to me. I love coffee flavour cake or sweets, but the coffee drink, and stouts like beamish or guinness as well... completely charred.

Banana, gad. Such a strong flavour. Even if it's used in a smoothie as a base, it's all I can taste in there. It just overwhelms everything else it is so strong.

Mrs Fox

Saffron for me. Leaves a metallic, rusty pipe taste in my mouth. I don't think I'll ever know what actual saffron tastes like

Spanish Eyes

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

Yes, it's genetic, but I'm surprised the people saying Cucumber are not also saying Melons - I can eat neither, and even if Cucumber has been on a plate then removed, I need a new plate and everything the cucumber has touched to be replaced.

Coriander too, vile stuff. Celery as well, it makes me retch.

Can't drink coffee either.

Brassicas though, I love em, love em, love em - so much so that I'll eat cabbage stalks raw, and broccoli stem too, cut it up into discs and add to a stir fry. Sprouts I'll eat by the truckload.

I cannot abide any type of melon either. And I love brassicas too (not mad about sprouts though), depends on who cooks them lol.

Are we related?