How age affects your taste buds
A recent survey has shown that some foods, such as blue cheese and olives, really are “grown-up foods” as most people will not develop a liking for them until they’re in their twenties. The survey took place in Britain, and included almost 2,000 adults, who gave feedback on the food they hated as children, but now find delicious.
Strong-tasting fish like mackerel, very spicy curries, and pickles were also on the list of foods that we grow into as we age. Many will not start to really enjoy these foods until our late teens. Oysters are a taste we don’t acquire until 24, while olives become palatable at 25.
Interestingly, goat cheese was a flavour that proved to be disliked for the longest time, with the average age of ‘flavour appreciation’ being 28.
Scientists have theorised that we prefer sweeter, and blander foods as children because we have around 30,000 tastebuds in our mouths as infants. This number decreases as we get older. By the time we’re adults, only a third of these remain.
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