The nature vs nurture of food: 00

 

(From googling) 

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The expression “nature vs. nurture” describes the question of how much a person’s characteristics are formed by either “nature” or “nurture.”  “Nature” means innate biological factors (namely genetics), while “nurture” can refer to upbringing or life experience more generally. 

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    Liking or disliking a particular food is, in lots of cases, nature.  Some people like/love or dislike/hate bitter or sour food (e.g., bitter gourd / karela / 苦瓜; unripe apple, or lemon/lime).  Practically everyone, especially children, likes sweet things (e.g., sweets and chocolate)

    This series about the nature vs nurture of food is my take on the nurture side:  how much one’s liking or disliking a particular food item is determined by his/her real life background and practice — the culture or family s/he was born into, e.g., 

• Sub-continental Indian and Mexican people tend to like chilli and spicy food; 

• Most (southern, if not all) Chinese people must have rice regularly or they’ll feel something is missing, whilst an Englishman who’d spent a year in China complained about his diet there: “Not rice again!!”.

 

   For this series, I’ve selected items that elicit or evoke strong feelings in people for or against those foods, (almost inevitably) because they were brought up eating them (or not).

    It’ll be interesting to see how you relate to the chosen items and whether you agree with me that they’re more  because of nurture rather than nature.