Ok, this is particularly off topic, but something I find fascinating, it’s all about how you taste food. I’ve been told since I’m a kid that I’m kind of ‘fussy’ about food, I’m certainly nowhere near as fussy now as I was when I was a kids, but I still find some tastes, particularly things like tea and coffee, olives, grapefruit, raw tomato, capers, anchovies impossible to eat, I still find zucchini rather bitter, but can force it down. Recently I’ve read a few articles that include information by researcher Linda Bartoshuk who discovered, that because of the number of taste buds on your tongue, some people are more sensitive to taste, particularly bitter tastes (potential poisons in the wild) and are considered more fussy.
As a mother, I have kids who are fussy too, frustrating when trying to get them to eat a variety of foods, but now I feel that it’s less about me, and more about their ability to taste foods, and they too may be supertasters.
Apparently about 25% of the population are supertasters (these are NOT the chefs of the world), then 50% of the population are tasters (these are the chefs and food writers and those who love all food and dislike little), lastly, there are the non-tasters (the other 25%) who are very unfussy about their foods, and don’t really distinguish much, they lack the taste buds for intense flavour, but they do love stuff to be really, really sweet.
The BBC website has a quick test to tell you what you might be if you’re interested.
So now I feel great in saying, “I’m not fussy, I’m just a supertaster”, cos I’m sick of the stigma of not liking strong tastes.
I’ve always felt that I have a higher than average perception of colour, so maybe other senses are also heightened genetically?
What kind of taster do you think you are?
I like spicy foods and have a good sense of smell – I think I'm at the upper end of taster! My daughter, however, hates all spicy foods and has an extremely acute sense of smell so I think's she's in the supertaster category!
I'm a taster, but I think I'm closer to the supertaster end of the spectrum. I'm not a very fussy eater but I dislike most of the foods that you have listed (tea being the sole exception, I drink it all the time). I also find tonic water to be very bitter (unlike some friends who think it's sweet). According to the BBC, Africans are more likely to be supertasters, so that might be a factor too (I'm of African descent).
Thanks for this — very interesting article. According to the quiz I'm a "normal" taster, which makes sense to me. I love to eat, and I'll try anything at least once. I love strong-tasting foods: smelly cheese, cruciferous vegetables, and fish that actually tastes like fish, just to name a few. Thankfully my kids and husband have similar tastes, and there's rarely a disastrous meal.
Like the others, upper end of taster, i.e. sensitive enough to cook but dull enough to eat bitter things. In fact, I prefer bitter to sweet. So there's that spectrum too, in addition to sensitivity.
How interesting! I came out as a supertaster (always have been fussy with my food).
I must tell my mum about this. She always insisted that I eat brussel sprouts, as she loves them, but they were just so powerful with their taste, I couldn't understand how she could like them
According to the quick quiz, I'm a supertaster, but I disagree with this because I happen to love grapefruit and Brussels sprouts despite any bitterness. However, I think got the result I did because I am an HSP (highly sensitive person) which accounts for 15-20% of the population and basically it's a difference in the nervous system, not the sensory receivers- highly sensitive people process more inputs in general. So if you're sensitive to other senses, you may be highly sensitive as well. If you're curious, here's a self-test: http://www.hsperson.com/pages/test.htm
I love spicy food, however I am also very very particular about food and do not like sweet all that much….what category will I be in???I'm going to take the test now..Could you elaborate more about the sense of colours that you just mentioned?
This is really interesting….
From Toronto, Canada