Children ask, taz answers: Why do people have different tastes?

Hmmm, chocolate, delicious! Brussels sprouts? Urx, totally disgusting! What we eat tastes very different. But why is this and what is it good for? The answer is on the tip of our tongue: There are taste buds distributed there that recognize five different tastes: sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami. Umami is the savory taste of meat, cheese, tomato sauce or fries.

Basically, the different tastes do not mean that we find food and drinks particularly tasty. They help us sense whether food is edible. Süß reports: The food has a lot of energy. A fruit, for example, is ripe enough. Umami means: There is protein in it that we need to grow. Salty indicates minerals that we need in small quantities for muscles and nerves.

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Sour and bitter are actually warning signs. The food could be unripe or spoiled. Our taste buds react more sensitively and diversely to sour and bitter than to sweet, for example. After all, our alarm system must reliably protect us from eating or drinking something inedible or even poisonous.

Children and adults have different tastes. Children need a lot of energy to grow. That's why sometimes their favorite food can't be sweet enough for them - which might be far too sweet for adults. Adults, on the other hand, like bitter things like coffee or beer, which children don't like. This is because people learn over time that not everything that tastes bitter is poisonous. So taste is a matter of habit. That's why Brussels sprouts taste good after you've tried them a few times.

Maybe you can think of another flavor. What about spicy? There is actually no spicy taste at all. The substance capsaicin is found in spicy foods. This activates the alarm on our tongue, which is responsible for heat. Even if the food isn't too hot, the brain gets the warning message: It's burning! Often people who eat very spicy food then turn red or start sweating because their brain wants to cool down. But you can gradually get used to this warning signal. Being able to eat spicy food is not a superpower, but rather just a matter of practice.