Why do different cultures think certain things taste good? Environment or heredity?

Question

Koreans eat spicy food. Same with the Indians. Do they like it because they're born into this kind of food or is there a racial biological component? If a white family that eats bologna and mayonaise adopts a Korean child, will that child like kim chi as an adult?

Answer 1

there are many reasons behind this. culture and heredity  has a lot influence on it. also family traditions also counts.

i m from bangladesh. in my family we like spicy food. but many of my friend's family doesnt use that much spice or oil. it depends on waht eat as u grow up.  we have some traditional food in our family like fermanted rice poridge... which my Mom loves but non of my siblings ever tested it...as it smells really bad.

also as we like our tradional food very much but it doesnt mean that we dont like PIZZA HUT or KFC. we love to go there... if u get introduced to new kind of foods u will like them. but u cant expect every one will love them.

i would say as we grew up eating this sort of food thats why we like them but we always welcome new test....

Answer 2

Acquired taste.

Mind conditioning do influence a preference for a certain kind of food; for instance kids in the more developed Asian countries are the main target of advertising & promotion blitz by food giants such as McDonald's, KFC, Nestle, et al. (like tobacco companies getting the young to smoke to get hooked). Huge majority of Asian parents throw in the towel - McDonald's victory, perhaps thinking the kids will outgrow their obsessive taste.

Breakfast of corn flakes, and other sweet cereals are quite common for urban kids in the more affluent sector of Asian society - not so a couple of decades ago. Why? Mind conditioning via advertising.

Answer 3

For the most part it's environmental- what you learn growing up.

A bit of taste is hereditary.  But to what extent this has on food overall, I don't know.  PTC is one such chemical which can only be tasted by people with a certain gene; it's used in genetic studies.

Answer 4

From what I know about this, food preferences are learned experiences, and we need to try foods several times before liking them. I once heard it was about 20 times. Your Korean child will be an Oscar Mayer lover if that's what he learns, no genes for food preference!

(P.S.- not all us white folks like bologna)

Answer 5

Food preference is learned, not inherited, or cultural.

Feed a kid chitlins, tell him they taste good...and most likely he'll grow up and like chitlins.

Even then, it's possible to pick up new preferences later in life.  For instance I very rarely ate fish growing up, but now I love sushi, which boggled my mom's mind.

Answer 6

Learned experiences and we can break these barriers if we are willing to open our minds and try new things.  However, many people that try new things only like it when it similiar to something that like it.  You know when you hear people say,"O this taste like chicken."  They like that food item because it is familiar to them.