Picky Eater to Eating Everything

As a kid, the list of food I refused to eat far exceeded the list of food I would eat. The list would probably make a chef cry, but we all know little kids can be incredibly picky eaters. I would only eat unhealthy finger foods like chicken nuggets, pot stickers, and french fries. I did not like vegetables other than peas (they're sweet!) and anything black looked like the "food of death". I also hated eggplant. Period. It's mushy and weird, and that purple color! I thought only candy was allowed to be that sort of artificial color. I would try eggplant now and then to see if I would change my mind but it always made me cringe and regret putting it in my mouth. Yet, one day I tried it again and it was delicious! My parents commented that my food palate has grown so much and I must agree that I love to eat almost anything now. You can imagine how happy my mom would've been had she known I would grow up to eat everything she cooked. This made me think, how do people's tastes change as they get older?

Let's look at children. In a study at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, researchers found that most children have a gene for being sensitive to bitterness. This is why they don't like vegetables, as many of them are slightly bitter. You can read about this study here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/02/050211084620.htm  

Research also suggests that people have denser taste buds in certain regions of the tongue that distinguish between tastes: salty, bitter, sweet, and sour. Many children are born with denser areas sensitive to sweetness, but become less dense as they get older. This explains why they especially love sweets compared to the general population of adults. 

What happens to our taste buds as we get older? The average adult has about 10,000 taste buds, but we can lose up to half of them as we age. Unfortunately, this means food will only taste more bland and we'll have to crank up the spices to get the same amount of flavor. We are less sensitive to bitterness, so we eat a lot more vegetables than children do. We can also handle dark chocolate (mmm one of my favorites and healthy too). According to the same study at Monell Chemical Senses Center, our ethnic food influences what we like to eat because our tastes are also heavily acquired. Thus, we prefer to eat foods similar to what we grow up with (hence why my Chinese grandmother will never eat cheese).

Seeing how so many parents worry about their kids being picky eaters, I say fear not. Their tastes will mature and you'll see fewer vegetables left on their plates. But if they just won't eat that spinach, there's no point in blaming them for having sensitive taste buds. So let it go. Just eat, be happy, and share your thoughts.