Recently I've had a bit of an obsession with reading foodie weblogs. It might surprise some close to me to know that I especially like reading online journals of people who eat odd foods or foods that are not common in North America. I've been known as a basically picky eater for most of my life and have resented the title quite a lot since I'm not picking and choosing what flavours are positive or negative to my taste buds; they are what they are.
It bothered me to the extent that I started doing amateur research about it on my own and I've found a bit of comfort in the articles I've read. I found out about supertasters this way, and after comparing that to the phenomenon of picky eating, or selective eating disorder I'd definitely say it's more the former than the latter in my case. I'm not bothered by textures at all, and aroma is not a problem for me unless the taste is also unpleasant. And in some cases the smell of things I don't like the taste of are actually pretty pleasant; like coffee.
It's a good explanation for why I often strongly dislike things that people say you have to 'develop a taste for', like alcohol, coffee, bitter foods, et cetera. If the intensity of the taste is increased for someone, then it's a lot less likely they're going to 'get used to it'. Those close to me know that I tend to prefer sweet alcohol beverages and never drink straight Scotch, whiskey, vodka, grain alcohol in general or beer. Cocktails are definitely my thing. Beer has never tasted good to me, and extremely spicy foods are a bad scene because my taste buds get overwhelmed with the spice and all other flavour is lost.
In college there was a couple who won a wing-eating contest and after it was over I remember the woman commenting that the suicide wings weren't even all that spicy. There were others eating them who literally had tears running down their faces and were in obvious pain. At the time I felt inferior, but now I suspect she was a nontaster! My taster is superior! Ha ha ha!
Actually, it's not. The concept of supertasting is not 'super', as it's an extreme that isn't very desirable, as is nontasting. Both can lead to health problems (according to the brief article I linked to for nontasting) and supertasting definitely leads to a more limited diet. The people you know who will put some of everything on their plate when presented with a variety of dishes are closer to the non-tasting end of the spectrum, although they will definitely say that they can taste their food. We all can, but the nontasters are much less likely to be affected by spiciness, bitterness and saltiness, whereas the same things will overwhelm the palate of a supertaster to the point of unpleasantness.
As I age my tastes are slowly, slowly broadening. It makes sense, since as we age our sense of taste dulls somewhat due to our olfactory senses diminishing. People who drinks lots of hot liquids dull their taste buds that way, and smoking also affects the sense of taste. I don't like many hot liquids, although tea is something I can drink on occasion. I'm not even a real fan of hot chocolate. They're just so hot. But yes; I have gradually been adding more foods, mostly in the vegetable category, to the things I eat. Broccoli and potatoes in the forefront, but I'm also toying with the idea of eating edamame more now that I'm pregnant. I have always HATED beans, but edamame is pretty mild in the bean category.
Uhhh ... I guess this entry is borne mostly of the eating frustrations I've been feeling in general since getting knocked up. And finding myself reading food blogs like porn is a new thing for me, although I've always kind of been fascinated by them. I'm jealous of foodies who eat at new and exciting restaurants all the time and give rundowns of the meal, commenting on flavours, textures, quality and quantity. I'd be a very poor foodie and I know it. It doesn't stop me from being totally fascinated by blogs such as Deep End Dining, though. This guy is amazing. And his sidebar has links to tons of food blogs that have me glued to my laptop.
I personally know some foodies, of course, who eat lots of delicious food and probably would pity me for my limited food enjoyment capacity. My friend Candice keeps an awesome food blog called Mmm, Tasty! and it's fantastic. Check out her giant doughnut cake! She also made the world's best chai latte cupcakes for me for my birthday, which she writes about in the blog. They were egg free, too, so Andrew could enjoy them!
So ... yeah. I think I'ma go find a blog entry about someone eating something bizarre. Fun!
2 comments:
Mmm, donut cake. I totally hadn't planned for it to be a giant donut, by the way. It just kinda turned out like that.
The non-taster story is funny. I worked at Subway for a while as a teenager and there was this one woman who came in and would ask for a RIDICULOUS amount of hot peppers. She probably was a non-taster too!
I know, but it's so awesome to refer to it as a giant doughnut! Besides, you've made a giant cupcake in the past, so giant food is kind of your thing, no?
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