3 ms·

The only sad thing here is how you're trying to generalize a few billion people with high-brow "I like it and if you don't, the you're wrong" assertions. Here'

The only sad thing here is how you're trying to generalize a few billion people with high-brow "I like it and if you don't, the you're wrong" assertions. Here's something that might rile you up: I enjoy spicy food, but sometimes I'll buy mild salsa because I don't always want cry my way through an appetizer or snack. I must be uncultured, huh? Finally, and this might come as a shock, but maybe your tastebuds have changed as you've gotten older. Endives might not be as bitter to you now due to this change, but they still might be pungent to other people who don't eat them as frequently. (I really wish HN had a downvote/dislike button. Maybe I need to level-up first before I get that option...)

fsckboy 3y ago
because I still every so often get served some lamb that is gamy and I can taste it just fine, I feel that I still know what it tastes like. And I can tell the difference between beef, more aged beef, and lamb, and I while I like flavorful beef (don't serve me filet), and lamb and gamy lamb, I don't actually like the flavor of more extreme-aged beef; so since my tasting of things hits some subtle difference buttons, and all the scale buttons I used to, I feel like it's still reliable. Chicory lettuce (which is now hard to find) and dandelion greens are bitter, and they used to be bitter and I used to and still like them. It is true that children (little boys) don't like bitter and grown men do (more than do women), so yes, taste buds shift, but I showed awareness and acknowledged that by saying "now you can serve endive to children"
mschuster91 3y ago
> The only sad thing here is how you're trying to generalize a few billion people with high-brow "I like it and if you don't, the you're wrong" assertions. He does have a point though. Many people, especially older generations, keep complaining that everything has gone bland / tastes the same... the problem at its core is that, thanks to market consolidation and efficiency, there aren't that many different varieties of produce and animals grown any more at scale. Producers select for predictable amount of weight, fast growth, low variance in taste and especially long shelf life, and so we end up with 30-ish varieties of seeds producing 95% of our food, where 10 companies dominate 74% of the world market [1]. In animals, it's the same - out of 80 domestic breeds of farm animals in Germany, for example, 56 are threatened [2], and even back in 2000 the problem was already recognized for other continents [3]. > (I really wish HN had a downvote/dislike button. Maybe I need to level-up first before I get that option...) Yup, IIRC it used to be 500-ish points? [1] https://utopia.de/sponsored-content/saatgut-diversitaet-bedroht-bio-saatgut/ https://utopia.de/sponsored-content/saatgut-diversitaet-bedr... [2] https://www.ble.de/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilungen/DE/2022/220106_RoteListe.html https://www.ble.de/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilungen/DE/2022/220... [3] https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/fao-immer-mehr-nutztierrassen-sterben-aus-100.html https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/fao-immer-mehr-nutztierrassen...
- jameshart 3y ago
  As people age, their sense of taste literally weakens. Stuff actually does start to taste more bland once you get past 50. So you can’t really trust grandma when she tells you food used to taste better back in the old days.
  - kelipso 3y ago
    Nah, try home grown vegetables vs supermarket vegetables. There's a clear lack of flavor across many of the supermarket vegetables.

fsckboy 3y ago

because I still every so often get served some lamb that is gamy and I can taste it just fine, I feel that I still know what it tastes like. And I can tell the difference between beef, more aged beef, and lamb, and I while I like flavorful beef (don't serve me filet), and lamb and gamy lamb, I don't actually like the flavor of more extreme-aged beef; so since my tasting of things hits some subtle difference buttons, and all the scale buttons I used to, I feel like it's still reliable. Chicory lettuce (which is now hard to find) and dandelion greens are bitter, and they used to be bitter and I used to and still like them. It is true that children (little boys) don't like bitter and grown men do (more than do women), so yes, taste buds shift, but I showed awareness and acknowledged that by saying "now you can serve endive to children"

mschuster91 3y ago

> The only sad thing here is how you're trying to generalize a few billion people with high-brow "I like it and if you don't, the you're wrong" assertions. He does have a point though. Many people, especially older generations, keep complaining that everything has gone bland / tastes the same... the problem at its core is that, thanks to market consolidation and efficiency, there aren't that many different varieties of produce and animals grown any more at scale. Producers select for predictable amount of weight, fast growth, low variance in taste and especially long shelf life, and so we end up with 30-ish varieties of seeds producing 95% of our food, where 10 companies dominate 74% of the world market [1]. In animals, it's the same - out of 80 domestic breeds of farm animals in Germany, for example, 56 are threatened [2], and even back in 2000 the problem was already recognized for other continents [3]. > (I really wish HN had a downvote/dislike button. Maybe I need to level-up first before I get that option...) Yup, IIRC it used to be 500-ish points? [1] https://utopia.de/sponsored-content/saatgut-diversitaet-bedroht-bio-saatgut/ https://utopia.de/sponsored-content/saatgut-diversitaet-bedr... [2] https://www.ble.de/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilungen/DE/2022/220106_RoteListe.html https://www.ble.de/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilungen/DE/2022/220... [3] https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/fao-immer-mehr-nutztierrassen-sterben-aus-100.html https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/fao-immer-mehr-nutztierrassen...

jameshart 3y ago
As people age, their sense of taste literally weakens. Stuff actually does start to taste more bland once you get past 50. So you can’t really trust grandma when she tells you food used to taste better back in the old days.
- kelipso 3y ago
  Nah, try home grown vegetables vs supermarket vegetables. There's a clear lack of flavor across many of the supermarket vegetables.