The tomato at right...juicy to you?
(image from serendip.brynmawr.edu)
Nasty to me...but why?
My best guess delves into the science of scents: odor association.
Do you know any smells that cause certain memories to be recalled? For example, the smell of a campfire makes you remember that time you went camping and cooked hot dogs over the fire with grandpa?
This is one example of odor association, and I believe that this plays an intrinsic role in the like or dislike of food. Read the following excerpt from page 118 of Trygg Engen's book, Odor Sensation and Memory:
He says here that once an association of a scent is linked to a memory, any recognition of the odor will recall the memory. He says earlier, on the same page of the book, that odor preferences are difficult to change.
My personal takeaway here is that odor preferences, once established, are difficult to alter. Taste and smell are so closely intertwined that a dislike of a smell is likely to generate a dislike for the taste of food containing the scent.
My postulate is this: due to certain uncomfortable experiences in our past, possibly ones that we don't even remember, certain food items and/or their scents are linked to emotions that we have no desire to feel, thereby causing us to dislike certain food items.
I hate tomatoes. Why?
I can't remember... maybe the first one I ever tried was rotten?
I challenge someone to find a better explanation than sensory memory as to why I hate tomatoes.
(Final image from farm3.static.flickr.com)
Hmmm... let's take a psychological view of this. Do you remember ever having tried tomatoes? Possibly not. On logical grounds then, at least, your argument is compromised.
ReplyDeleteMy sister hates all kinds of veggies even though she's never tried any as far as I can remember (and she's younger than me).
Sometimes, genetics can play a role, or the kind of environment you were brought up in. Do the rest of your family enjoy tomatoes? (Forgive me if I'm too personal) Those, compounded with your negative sensory association, could be the reason you hate tomatoes.
Your theory depends on whether you smell the tomatoes before you eat them.. if you do, then that could be a reason that you hate tomatoes... However, I'm pretty sure that tomatoes are hard to smell ..
ReplyDeleteIt could be because your body cannot digest tomatoes properly. I don't hate milk but I can't digest milk properly giving me tummy aches so yeah I don't hate it but I try avoid drinking milk...maybe your not hating tomatoes but just avoiding them as well
I have no idea why you hate tomatoes but if you want to find out try searching "Reasons to hate tomatoes" on google and you'll find out... people who believe TOMATOES ARE EVIL!! :D you might be one of them lol
Have you tried a not rotten tomato? Either way, I hate tomatoes too, albeit for a very different reason. I am simply allergic to them, but the taste is not pleasing either. I hate the smell of the tomato not because it is bad, rather because I identify that smell as that of the tomato.
ReplyDeleteI understand that if you had a bad first experience with a tomato that you would dislike them. However, many people have come to like a food with which they at first had a bad experience. For example, I used to hate the taste of stuffing with a passion. Now, at Thanksgiving dinner, I can't get enough of it.
It could be texture? I know a lot of people who won't eat mushrooms, eggplants, cooked spinach, or okra because it tastes too "slimy and mushy". Tomatoes are kind of squishy...
ReplyDelete