A matter of taste

[ChristineM]

I bought a jar just out of curiousity. It went to the garbage, less about a tenth of a teaspoon. Nasty nasty stuff.

That said, I like almost everything, 'ceptin' meat as the vegetarianism has conditioned the taste buds over 40 years plus.

Methinks you did the right thing

I heard that about vegitarians. My daughter is, has been vegi for only 4 years? I don't give her meat so dont know how she'd react to it?

 

[Vinayaka]

Methinks you did the right thing

I heard that about vegitarians. My daughter is, has been vegi for only 4 years? I don't give her meat so dont know how she'd react to it?

Marmite fans will argue with vegemite fans over which is best. Those of us on the hate side would argue which is worse.

 

[ChristineM]

Marmite fans will argue with vegemite fans over which is best. Those of us on the hate side would argue which is worse.

Ive only had Marmite once, on a closed ham (and marmite) sandwich which was offered to me without mentioning the revolting condiment.

Never tried vegemite because i have tasted marmite.

So i can't argue which is worst but assume both are bad

 

[exchemist]

Are we sharing brain cells? I just posted the same link to @KAT-KAT

I usually have country crisp, porridge or weetabix cereal or pastry (pain au raisins or bostok from Maison Massoulier in Sarlat (unashamed plug there)). So cant comment on toasted pee

When in Brittany I have baguette tradition for breakfast. Can't do that in London - the bread's crap.

Sometimes a half of my son's kouign amann for tea, but not too often -ouf. He needs one after sailing, but all I do is gardening....

Picture for Revoltingest - he'd love them :

 

[Subduction Zone]

When in Brittany I have baguette tradition for breakfast. Can't do that in London - the bread's crap.

Sometimes a half of my son's kouign amann for tea, but not too often -ouf. He needs one after sailing, but all I do is gardening....

Picture for Revoltingest - he'd love them :

View attachment 34633

At first I thought the name for that pastry was a typo:

Kouign-amann - Wikipedia

 

[bobhikes]

Taste is an unusual sense. e?

I really don't see taste as different from other senses. Even with sight we don't agree especially with color. Science has shown that men and women see colors differently. Women have a deeper range. Basically women see navy blue and men only see black. Among individuals it is even greater.

All our senses are different from other individuals being that our sense develop our mind all our thoughts are different. When you read bird what do you picture I see a black form of a bird flying open winged in the sky. Is that the picture you mind formed. Reality is subjective to the individual only objective with consensus.

 

[exchemist]

At first I thought the name for that pastry was a typo:

Kouign-amann - Wikipedia

Yeah, very Breton. These things are what both your doctor and - especially - your dentist would be appalled to see you eat. You need to be pretty hungry, but if you are they really hit the spot. Definitely need a lot of tea to accompany them - apart from anything else to dissolve the hard caramelised sugar stuck in your teeth.

 

[Subduction Zone]

I really don't see taste as different from other senses. Even with sight we don't agree especially with color. Science has shown that men and women see colors differently. Women have a deeper range. Basically women see navy blue and men only see black. Among individuals it is even greater.

All our senses are different from other individuals being that our sense develop our mind all our thoughts are different. When you read bird what do you picture I see a black form of a bird flying open winged in the sky. Is that the picture you mind formed. Reality is subjective to the individual only objective with consensus.

This post reminded me of glasses for the color blind:

https://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/color-blind-glasses.htm

Researchers that studied eyesight noticed that even though we all have both rods and cones for some of us there is an excessive overlap of sensitivity of some of the cones to light. By removing the light in the center area of overlap the glasses "restore" color vision to the color blind.

 

[sealchan]

Taste is an unusual sense. It is acknowledged that people will taste things
differently. Things that I like to taste may well be things you hate to taste.
We recognize that taste is a matter of opinion and not a matter of fact. We
even go as far as to say that other opinions (concerning art, music, etc) are
'matters of taste' when we mean that people will experience them in different
ways.

This is quite different than, for example, the sense of sight. We generally
expect that if we see something as red, so will everyone else. Of course,
there are those who are color blind, but we see that as a deficiency and not
an aspect of being 'normal'. Healthy people are expected to se the same colors
while they are not expected to taste the same tastes.

Of course, there are some tastes that people uniformly see as the same. Honey is
sweet, lemons are sour, etc. But there are some that taste broccolli as bitter
and others that do not. There are those who find the taste of vinegar as overpowering
while others can almost drink it out of the bottle.

What is interesting is that we have found *some* reasons for these differences
in taste. The taste receptors in our tongues and palates vary from person to person.
The responsiveness to different chemicals varies and so the signals the tastebuds
send to our brains varies. A 'super taster' has different taste buds than others do.

So what does this say about 'reality'? Since ALL of our information about the world
comes from our senses and we *know* that the senses can vary from person to person,
how do we determine what is 'real' and factual as opposed to 'a matter of taste'?
Do we simply forge 'consensus reality' from those sensations where we all agree and
say the rest are 'opinions'? Do we accept differences as 'personal realities'? And
how can we (can we) know anything about what is really 'out there'?

What tastes do you like that many others dislike? What do you dislike that others like?
For me, I dislike tomatoes and vinegar and really like sweet foods. My wife is
exactly the opposite. What is your experience?

At the risk of getting too serious and philosophical...

I think there are four levels of consideration to your questions:

1. The variability of sensory experience itself
2. The variability of the association of good/bad (value) to sensory information
3. The ambiguity of sensory information to a question of value
4. The necessity of preference for the cumulative development of the psyche

1. If, as you suggest, some people experience different sensory 'qualia' given the same input, then that probably speaks to a physical or biochemical difference between that individual and another.

2. You would think that the ability to differentiate sensory input would be based in some evolutionary advantage obtained from so doing from one's distant ancestors. Certain sensory properties would become associated with certain qualitative responses on the spectrum of good vs bad. Good tastes come from things that should be eaten and bad tastes warn us to spit out those things that should not be eaten...at least if we want to make it to the next generation.

But while this strategy might have worked in our distant ancestors, it may be that it was imperfect at best. Humans, with their ability to observe and communicate might realize that some things that taste bad might be really useful for survival and some things that taste good might be useful for suicide. Under such selection pressures, the genetic instinctual response would be allowed to become variable as its usefulness for survival purposes diminishes. And whatever genetic code encouraged specific associations would gradually become less prevalent in our collective DNA.

3. In my experience of why different people have different sensory preferences I have speculated as follows:

• Having a preference means not having to deliberate; this is a practical advantage in that time and effort is reduced in a process where otherwise the choices would be highly ambivalent as far as relative survival value (who cares if its vanilla or chocolate)?
• Being open to establishing a preference (the preference not being fully determined genetically) based on experience ensures the above principle will be applicable to the organism in question
• Preferences can build so that if one likes strawberry then one might choose something else because it is pink. Again the choice can be made quickly where the relative merits of the options are ambivalent
• This biasing can be overridden by an individual with an interest in the sensory experience who wants to explore the full range of that type of experience. In this way the preference might change over time as the individual has different personal associations to the experience

4. I believe that in some cases it is necessary for an individual to develop a preference so that further development of the personality can proceed. The brain's neural circuits are capable of forming various and conflicting approaches to differentiating and integrating information. In order to achieve certain capabilities it may be the case that a specific human brain needs to prefer the left or right side of the body for performing certain tasks especially if a quick decision is needed.

 

[ChristineM]

This post reminded me of glasses for the color blind:

https://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/color-blind-glasses.htm

Researchers that studied eyesight noticed that even though we all have both rods and cones for some of us there is an excessive overlap of sensitivity of some of the cones to light. By removing the light in the center area of overlap the glasses "restore" color vision to the color blind.

Interesting, i have an artist friend who is colour blind, its become a signature of his work. But he could use them when not painting. I shall show him that link when i next see him.

Tinted glasses help my problem, red bleeds, most paper, screens etc have some red to mix the colour. The red blurs out characters, either a green filter or green tinted eye glasses filter out the red... Voila problem gone(ish)

 

[PureX]

So what does this say about 'reality'? Since ALL of our information about the world
comes from our senses and we *know* that the senses can vary from person to person, how do we determine what is 'real' and factual as opposed to 'a matter of taste'?
Do we simply forge 'consensus reality' from those sensations where we all agree and say the rest are 'opinions'?
Do we accept differences as 'personal realities'?
And how can we (can we) know anything about what is really 'out there'?

All of the above.

What is "real and factual" is that we each perceive our experience of being, differently. Mostly because we are each experiencing it from a different perspective, and with different 'equipment'. This IS our 'reality'. This IS our 'truth'.

 

[anna.]

All of the above.

What is "real and factual" is that we each perceive our experience of being, differently. Mostly because we are each experiencing it from a different perspective, and with different 'equipment'. This IS our 'reality'. This IS our 'truth'.

Hey, PureX.

I was scrolling down, reading the responses in this thread without looking at who was posting them. When I read yours I thought, "this sounds like something PureX would say..." so I looked, and - yep.

Hope you're doing well. And I agree regarding perception.

 

[Revoltingest]

When in Brittany I have baguette tradition for breakfast. Can't do that in London - the bread's crap.

Sometimes a half of my son's kouign amann for tea, but not too often -ouf. He needs one after sailing, but all I do is gardening....

Picture for Revoltingest - he'd love them :

View attachment 34633

Looks like Princess Leia's hair in the '76 Star Wars.
(Which was darn tasty.)

 

[exchemist]

Looks like Princess Leia's hair in the '76 Star Wars.
(Which was darn tasty.)

What you can't see in that top view photo is that the lower part is soaked in caramelised sugar that has set fairly hard. Not something to attempt with dentures.

 

[Revoltingest]

What you can't see in that top view photo is that the lower part is soaked in caramelised sugar that has set fairly hard. Not something to attempt with dentures.

I still sport me original choppers.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

It's not the smell that wakes you, it's the inhalation stimulant in the ammonia the gets you.

You are too sharp for my trick questions. There are some interesting studies on the phenomenon of sleep and smelling though. Kind of curious as to what is going on that drives the process.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

We don't have a government at present and a powerful smell of BS pervades the land, which will only get stronger if Bozo wins, as he is expected to do.

Governments never smell of roses exactly, but this one will be a real stinker.

The stink seems to vary, but is persistent, no matter the government.