Friday, August 29, 2008
Taste
In the post yesterday, the word taste was used to describe the function of our taste buds. Taste also has an entirely different meaning, but more on that later.
Our taste buds, combined with our sense of smell, allow us to enjoy food. They also provide a deterrent to eating poison.
Babies have, roughly, the same taste buds as adults. At their tender age, however, we don’t expose them to spicy or heavily flavored foods. Their taste buds are highly sensitive, and to them, all foods are an amazing taste sensation, even if our less-sensitive (because of abuse) taste buds find a baby’s diet bland. Bland is relative.
About the time a baby is two years old (and until they are about 13 or 14) their taste buds change. Their bitter tasting buds become more sensitive and dominant.
Knowing that is important, as it helps explain why babies will suddenly spit out foods they had eaten quite comfortably before. In addition, it also explains why children are incredibly picky about foods that are bitter. Foods such as spinach, gourmet cheeses, exotic dishes, etc., taste different to them than they do to us, as adults. What they taste in them is the bitter, and only the bitter, and their bodies signal to them not to eat it. It is even more pronounced in boys.
Knowing that means that it is cruel (and pointless) to try to get children to eat things that they hate, until their bitter palate begins to subside. Then you can pounce, and introduce new foods to their diet, to expand their palate. It is also important not to create a habit of drowning their food in things like ketchup or sweet barbecue sauces, so they can actually taste the foods they eat, not the coatings used to mask them.
While it may be frustrating for parents to have such finicky eaters in the house, evolution has actually done us a favor, and there is a reason that a child’s bitter taste buds become dominant during the (approximate) 2 to 13 years.
Until a baby is about 2 they are carried and they’ll accept anything you put in their mouths (and they put in their mouths everything in which they come in contact). They are/were on the backs on their parents until then, held above the tops of bushes and other plants. But at about age 2 they begin to be too heavy to carry all the time, and they’re put down to walk. By the time they are three, they can run, and they’re fast as lightening. This means that they become incredibly vulnerable to the poisons in the world. The bitter taste buds sensitively comes in as a defense. By the time they are 3, they reject practically anything you put in their mouths and just about everything they put in their own mouths. This is so they will not like the taste of berries, leaves, or other items they find at their level (now on the ground) and would die of poisoning if they had a taste for it.
This period lasts until they are 13 or 14, by which time the wisdom of what to eat (what is poisonous and what isn’t) has been taught to them by their parents (or tribe).
Until that change occurs, it is absolutely critical not to try to force them to eat things that are, to them, unpalatable. This is so they will trust you, and establishing that trust is an important thing to have later (as well as generally).
If a parent pays close attention, they can begin to notice when their child’s bitter taste buds begin to be not so dominant, as parents can ask a teenager to try certain things, to see if they will like them. It is important not to start this process with things that are the most bitter (or exotic). It also helps to explain all this to children, so they will understand that their taste buds are changing, and you want to help them expand their palate.
Taste the foods you want your teenager to try first. If it seems bitter to you, don’t risk it (yet). If is just a bit different from their normal choices, such as a real cheese taste (as opposed to the gawd-awful American cheese they’ve eaten up until then), break off a corner of it and ask them what they think of it. Ask if it still tastes bitter to them. A parent can keep doing this until the child no longer rejects foods that have a strong bitter component.
(Something like Swiss cheese is one of the most bitter cheeses, so don’t start with that one!)
When you introduce new foods to your child, tell them about it. Tell them what it will taste like. After a few dozen experiences (of trial and error), a parent can get a sense of what their child likes now, and expand on it (gradually). If the child doesn’t like mustard yet, for example, skip the introduction of foods that have that taste component, and try others instead.
Describe the taste to the child, and be as descriptive as possible, such as associating the flavors with something else the child might know and like. Explain the new dimension to it, such as “this is a bit bitter or stronger, and has a more vinegary taste,” a “darker flavor,” or “is more peppery,” etc.).
If a parent is patient (and understanding) and has as their goal to expand their child’s palate (not act as a control freak to get them to eat everything they want them to), the child will grow into an adult who is willing to try new things. This is why trust and honesty is so important. A parent who gives a child something they know they will not like (or plays a joke on them by giving them something that tastes terrible) should be taken out behind the barn and beaten severely. That is not parenting. That is cruelty and abuse. Abusing your child’s trust is the worst possible thing a parent can do, and doing it in jest is only masking the cruelty, not diminishing it.
Texture combinations are an entirely different matter, and some people never get over the gag reflux of something crunchy or crispy, combined with something smooth. It is important to introduce texture combinations early (when they’re still young, but warn them first), with things like crunchy peanut butter on celery sticks, or dipping carrots into cream cheese. This is so their gag reflex with texture combinations is reduced. They may not get over some of them, but the goal is not perfection, it is adaptation. Some people, for example, will never be able to enjoy the texture switch of nuts or raisins in other, smoother, dishes.
* * *
Taste also means something else entirely, used often in the context of taste and manners where one acquires the ability to differentiate (ie, discriminate) between things of aesthetic value, and things that have no aesthetic value.
Bling will be attractive to young children. Shinnies get our attention and their sparkle and luster will, at first, be quite alluring to children (and there is nothing wrong with indulging them in this while they are young, allowing them to dress up as princesses or princes, in the privacy of home, but never in public). Children need to be taught to discriminate between gaudy and beauty and understand that they can indulge a bit with gaudy, but not in public (as it is a preening, narcissistic-leaning bad habit), but gaudy will be the loudest and alluring, so it is not an easy thing to do.
If a child, especially a teenager, is doing things to draw attention to themselves, such as wearing gaudy jewelry, or loud clothing, etc., this is a sign that they are crying out for attention. That is not a healthy state to be in. A person distinguishes themselves from the crowd by what is on the inside, not by what they wear on the outside. A confident person will have no need to stand out physically, because they know that it is only what is inside that matters. If a child doesn’t know that, or hasn’t learned that yet, their outer loudness is the clue that there is a problem.
Surrounding and exposing your child to beauty, to get them to experience the difference between vulgarity and beauty and bland and flavorful, is what will allow them to seek perfection in all aspects of their lives, including other intangibles such as duty, honor, and integrity. It is a complete package. If a child gets the message that their life should include the best the world has to offer (and they should and may reject banality), they will repay it in kind.
Freedom is a state of mind and being, not a physical state. A child’s behavior must conform to a standard (manners, etiquette, style of dress, etc.) and be appropriate, but their ideas and their minds should be allowed to soar.
- And Another Thing (11/29/2008)
- Almost Last Words (11/28/2008)
- The United States of America: The Miniseries (11/13/2008)
- Closing Doors (10/30/2008)
- Simon and John (09/09/2008)
Posted 08/29/2008 8:38 AM CDT • Print Vers.
