I heard this past year that your taste buds change every seven years. I found that fascinating. The other day I tried to verify that information via Google and millions of hits on the words "taste", "buds", and "tongues". Unfortunately I couldn't verify the info as each website gave either a true or a false to that fact. But I do think our taste buds must go through some sort of change, phases or seasons if you will. I've noticed that as I have aged my tastes have changed, matured, or altered.
When I was a young'n my Grandpa would let me have a little bit of coffee with a good amount of cream and sugar (which probably explains why I have to have some cream and sugar when I drink coffee now). He would wink at me and tell me that coffee would stunt my growth. Ha! As I got older as we saw that I was height challenged he would then say that it would grow hair on my chest. He also said something else completely inappropriate so I won't repeat that! :) My coffee flavored cream & sugar drinking ended when we moved to a different state and I didn't pick coffee back up until I had graduated from High School and was working in a real job. Somehow I got in the habit at stopping at my local 7-11 every morning and buying a large flavored coffee. And I got hooked. This was at the time that Starbucks hadn't hit my city yet (at least not that I know of) but coffee that you didn't make yourself was becoming the fad. It was the beginning of the end for Folger's etc. As suddenly as I started drinking coffee again I stopped. It wasn't that important to me. I wasn't drinking it for the caffeine but for the flavor. I really genuinely love the taste of coffee. After having our first child a coffee shop opened up rather close to me and a friend and I tried it out. I haven't been back to 7-11 since. :) Since 1998 I've been sipping coffee from coffee houses and my tastes in coffee have "matured". Okay fine. I've actually become a bit of a coffee "snob". I won't, I can't drink stuff from a can. Like ever. (Okay, fine I will but talk about a little coffee with a bunch of cream and sugar!)
My whole life the thought and smell and look of blue cheese made me gag. There's a Friends episode where Ross eats something Rachel made and makes the proclamation, "It tastes like feet!" That's how I always felt about blue cheese. And then I turned 36. Suddenly, quite literally out of the blue, I CRAVED blue cheese. I figured I knew what it tasted like based on what it smelled like and I was so hungry for that taste to hit my tongue that I drove to the store and bought some Blue Cheese dressing for salad. Now? I can't get enough of the stuff and the stronger the blue cheese the better! I even started collecting recipes that use blue cheese. I mean I can't get enough of it!
When I first married I "cooked" for my husband. Hamburger Helper, Little Juan Burritos, Spaghetti, and a few recipes I was brave enough to try. Oh and we had lots of Velveeta Mac-n-Cheese, we LOVED that stuff (okay, confession...sometimes I still CRAVE the creaminess of Velveeta. It's wrong that Velveeta is so good in all of its processed ways!). I don't know when or how but I slowly phased out the Hamburger Helper and Little Juan Burritos and started opening up my cookbook more. And I started to feel a little braver about flavors and spices and cooking methods. At some point I "risked" using real garlic instead of garlic powder! :) There was one recipe that called for Cumin and I couldn't pronounce it and I felt scared of it so I omitted it. One day I felt brave and decided to give it a go. OH MY GOODNESS. Have you tried it? You must! It's a staple spice in my cooking now.
The first sip of an alcoholic beverage I ever had was the foam of my Grandpa's beer. Disgusting. I was all of 5 or 6 and I'm sure it was some brand like Pabst or something that in the beer world is what something like Folger's is in the coffee world. But it was gross and I never forgot it. I had a few under the radar sips of alcohol while in Middle School but the next real sip of alcohol I had I was at a friend's house, whose name shall remain protected since I was - gasp - slightly underage. It was a midori sour. A green apple jolly rancher in liquid form! :) Since then, and becoming officially of age, I have drank a little of this and a little of that and now in my 30's I think I've settled on the drinks I like and will spend the money on. Never have taken to beer. That Pabst, or whatever it was, foam must have ruined my taste buds for beer! :)
So do taste buds change every 7 years? I don't know. All I know is MY taste buds sure have made some changes over the years! :) My sips & nibbles have gone through a lot of phases and I bet they will go through a few more before all is said and done. It's been said that as one ages the taste buds lose their ability to taste. The last bud to go is the sweet one which would explain why most elderly people love their sweets, they can still taste them! I sure do love sweet things but I really love savory so it will be a sad day indeed when those buds quit working. Until then I'll be cooking and baking and hopefully making the taste buds of the people I love really happy!
Here's to sips & nibbles and being able to enjoy them because of taste buds! Cheers!
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