Does our taste in foods evolve over the years?
Since we are very young we have been developing our own taste in foods. As we grow up we try new spices, herbs, foods and drinks, so as adults we mostly know what we like or don’t like.
When I was a kid I used to love sour cream, bread, chicken soup, fresh onion, roast pork and bacon. I didn’t like yellow cheese, porridge and sweets. Nowadays, things have changed! The really hot onions and roast pork make my stomach hurt and bloat up, whereas I now absolutely love yellow cheese and porridge! I also developed the taste for chocolate, although, cakes and cookies are not something I would buy for myself, they are too sweet for my taste.
I want to share an interesting situation that happens to me a lot with some of my clients. Most of my clients are adults, however, I also work with children and teenagers. Children want to try new meals and decide if they like them or not, but teenagers are completely different.
It is interesting how almost every teenager I have worked with doesn’t like a lot of food and they don’t want to try something new. Most common drinks and foods they don’t like are tea, any kind of leafy salad, fish, mushrooms, spinach, chard, broccoli, beans, peas, lentils, peppers, oats, pumpkin, melon, whole grain rice, etc. They prefer some kind of meat and as a side dish zucchini or potatoes, with fresh tomatoes or cucumbers, sandwiches, and that is almost all. :(
I have wondered why this happens. The answer I came up with is – parents.
Parents have to introduce their children with new foods, they have to make sure they are eating plenty of carbs, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals. The best way to do that is through variety of healthy foods that should be given to children since they are able to eat solid food. So when the problem occurs? When parents lack patience and persistence to introduce new meals.
Additionally, parents must set good examples for their kids. If the parent doesn’t like to eat something and openly shows it, the great possibility is that kids are going to imitate the parent and refuse the same food (this is something I’m going to write about more, later in my posts :) ).
In my experience, that was usually the case with teenagers, plus they are not curios at all how something new tastes. I always try to change that when I work with them.