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How are our gastronomic tastes formed, why do babies prefer certain products from birth, and is it possible to change taste habits? By nutritionist Bea Wilson.
We are accustomed to perceive our taste preferences as an integral part of ourselves. Sometimes we make friends through a shared fondness for licorice or Chinese food. Or we are looking for a couple in social networks with the status of «vegan». But are gastronomic tastes really our personal choice?
children of the corn
I knew a boy who ate nothing but corn flakes. No matter what time it was, he replaced every meal with a bowl of cereal with milk. My parents were seriously concerned about this obsession, and my sister and I studied the gastronomic phenomenon with sincere curiosity. We’ve been theorizing about how this weird corn fetish came about. It seemed that the love of corn flakes was part of his character, if not completely inherent in him at the genetic level. And nothing can be done about it.
Pizza or herring?
Indeed, our taste preferences are largely influenced by genes (especially bitter and salty tastes), where we live, and family. If you want to know what your colleague likes, ask where his parents or he is from. An Italian cannot live without pasta and pizza. Norwegian — without salted fish. Natives of North Africa who moved to France cannot imagine life without mint tea.
And vice versa — often we do not like certain products just because in our childhood for some reason they were not. If that little cornflake lover lived in a country where corn doesn’t grow, he’d have to choose a different food obsession.
“Why does homemade food seem the most delicious? Since childhood, we are emotionally attached to certain aromas and tastes. Whether it’s grandma’s pie or mom’s soup.»
The love for three oranges
Another reason for our love for certain products is the diet of expectant mothers during pregnancy. Psychobiologists Julie Mennella and Gary Beauchamp of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia found that women who regularly drank carrot juice during their last trimester of pregnancy had children who loved carrots from birth. The same results were obtained by Mennella and Beauchamp in mothers who ate a lot of garlic or oranges.
Taste of childhood
Why is homemade food the most delicious? Since childhood, we are emotionally attached to certain aromas and tastes. Whether it’s grandma’s pie or mom’s soup. We can learn to love even unpleasant things if we have positive childhood memories associated with them.
It is these memories that prevent us from changing our eating habits. We understand that it is healthier to eat a portion of fruits and vegetables every day. But how hard it is to refuse ice cream or chips! After all, in childhood they brought so much joy! It is necessary to remove chocolate from the diet, it immediately seems that something important is missing. But toddlers who haven’t been given chocolate will easily go without sweets into adulthood. They did not know this taste and cannot miss it.
“The best way to change your diet is to move to another country. We all noticed that on vacation we enjoy eating new dishes for ourselves. ”
Matter of habit
It turns out that the choice of your favorite cuisine is determined by genes, parents, childhood memories, place of birth, but not by ourselves? At the same time, taste preferences can change dramatically over the course of a lifetime. Man is an omnivore, which means he is able to discover new foods and tastes. Everyone starts their life with milk, but not everyone drinks it every day. As children, we often do not like olives and only with age are able to appreciate their salty taste. Most of us, during our lives, begin to love something that we have not eaten before.
If you want to lose weight, move!
How then to change your diet to a healthier one? The best way is to gradually introduce new foods into the diet, experiment with spices — they will give «unleavened» dishes a new taste.
Learn new recipes. There are thousands of dishes in the world that you have never tried, which means that there is a chance that you will love them. It is known that you can give up salt and sugar in a few weeks. It is only necessary to gradually reduce their number.
Gradually deny yourself a morning bun and dessert after dinner. Allow yourself sweets on certain days, for example, twice a week. Don’t beat yourself up if you break. Stock up on patience. Find an alternative to daily sweets — replace them with dates, raisins.
But the best way to change the diet is to move to another country. We all noticed that on vacation we enjoy trying new dishes. People who lived in other countries are returning with new culinary preferences. This means that we are capable of a complete reboot. And you can learn to eat steamed vegetables, herbs, fish and meat at any age.