The Big Misconception About Acquired Taste

There’s a reason bleu cheese, olives, and wasabi don’t appear on kids’ menus: All three ingredients have assertive flavors that would turn off most children with functioning taste receptors. But something interesting happens after several years of development—many of the same kids that used to gag at anything bitter or funky start to accept, or actively seek out, those same bold flavors in their diets. This change has nothing to do with maturing taste buds. Rather, it can be explained by the purely psychological phenomenon of acquired taste. Humans are born liking sweet foods and drinks, and they show an innate aversion to heat, bitterness, and other strong flavors. In other words, acquired taste isn’t limited to durian, liver, anchovies, and other foods that are polarizing among adults. Any food preference that doesn’t appeal to our most basic, ingrained desires has been acquired. That means broccoli, hot sauce, beer, pickles, ginger, dark chocolate, miso, and yogurt are all acquired tastes.