Sunday, September 18, 2011

Aging Taste Buds

Supposedly, maybe I read it somewhere or something, as you age flavors become milder or you have a stronger tolerance for spicy foods and stinky stuff. That's why little kids can't take the spicy foods that old people like, or don't like strong foods like onion or sauerkraut.

My taste buds keep giving away my age, yikes 29, because I have an increasing love for foods that used to make me cringe. Not that I'm out eating olives or something, cause gross, but suddenly I love hot sauce and onions. I have new found love for sriracha sauce, and I've been putting it on the chow mein noodles I've been eating all weekend. Grilled onions are suddenly appealing to me, when my entire childhood whenever my dad would eat them I'd be repulsed. Same with sauerkraut, but I haven't tried that so far, the smell is too much. I seek out the red pepper flakes at pizza establishments, and even put them in my spaghetti sauce. Spicy nacho Doritos are irresistibly delicious to me, even if when I'm done I have to brush my teeth just to cool off my tongue.

I never pictured myself liking spicy or strong foods, especially the spicy stuff. I used to be a wimp, but the more spicy stuff I eat the more I like it. Is it possible that my tongue is building up a tolerance to this arsenal of peppery things? That is a mystery. My taste buds are getting old, so now I like all the foods my dad likes, but I'm not gonna suddenly start putting excessive salt & pepper on my food like him, that would be crazy. And I do draw the line at liver & onions, that is just disgusting. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go eat some noodles drenched in sriracha sauce, with a big glass of ice water, cause there's still some feeling left in there.

3 comments:

Joanna Marie said...

I know exactly what you mean! I'm only 20, but just in the past year or so I have been gradually developing a taste for spicy foods, when I used to not be able to stand them! I still don't do hardcore spicy stuff, but the fact that I enjoy ANY spicy stuff at all is a rare occurrence.

And I, who swore I would shun sushi with my dying breath... find myself craving the yellowtail sushi roll from Mr. Ans in Tucson (spicy AND sushi... what more taste bud laws can I break?).

So yeah, I have definitely been feeling this lately as well. It's kind of strange, to feel that everything you swore you'd never eat is slowly becoming more and more palatable to you.

Jennifer said...

That's how I felt when I started to like pepperoni when I was pregnant with Ava. It was like an identity crisis! I still swear I'll never eat an olive.

ConnieB said...

This clears up a lot! Why I suddenly like ranch- why I can tolerate jalapenos in massive amounts- the list goes on.

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