I have a confession to make: I love black licorice.
Trust me, I’m the first to admit that this is an unpopular opinion. However, I always keep two bags of Trader Joe’s soft licorice on hand at all times. It’s a family affair, as Good & Plenty and licorice allsorts were my grandfather’s favorites. Highly contentious foods often find a home in my house. My mom has even been known to eat Spam with breakfast.
“Unpopular” foods, like blue cheese or liverwurst, are often huge points of contention in the culinary world. This past Halloween, the tense debate surrounding the merits of candy corn had me thinking: why are some foods treated like public enemies?
This goes beyond hating vegetables as a kid. Certain foods hold a culinary scarlet letter, with the young and old alike holding hot opinions. Much of this is due to an unusual texture or particularly strong taste that can overpower a meal. Sometimes, a food seems to get a bad reputation simply from a mob campaign against it. Pineapple pizza, anyone?
Some foods are disliked largely due to reasons out of our control. The most famous of these is cilantro. While a staple in any taqueria worth its weight, even Food Network’s Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa herself, balks at a reportedly soapy taste. According to a research team at Cornell University, this is due to a strong OR6A2 olfactory receptor, which picks up the same aldehyde chemicals present in soap. So, if you can’t stand cilantro, it may mean you have a heightened sense of smell. Go figure! Knowing this, however, it may be time to let this debate rest. The real fight comes with those foods that public opinion outcasts.
My own favorite licorice is possibly one of the most hated foods in America. However, in Europe, candy shops tell a different story. In the Netherlands, almost four pounds of licorice are eaten per person every year. They love it so much, they’re changing it up with honey, banana, mint, and even salty ammonium chloride. Where Americans would put Hershey bars, Dutch candy shops feature shelves upon shelves full of licorice. Definitely no influence on why I almost studied abroad in Amsterdam last summer (Shhhhhh).
These “acquired tastes” are difficult in that they inherently require one to struggle through a food, at least for the first couple of times one tries it. I was this way with coffee, refusing anything except a Starbucks Java Chip Frappuccino, essentially a milkshake, in my early years of caffeine consumption. Unusually bitter, tangy, or spicy flavors just don’t appeal at first taste. And we’re not supposed to suffer for our food!
Around the globe, personal culture makes a big difference in which foods people gobble up and which are left uneaten. Think of broccoli, which is quite possibly the arch nemesis of American children. However, not all cultures share this opinion. Take Japan, for example, where children shun green peppers instead. In their version of Pixar’s Inside Out, animators changed a young character’s hatred of broccoli to peppers to more accurately reflect regional attitudes. This seems to be the category where many vegetables and historically disliked foods lie. A “gross” reputation can put someone off a food without ever trying it, which is admittedly where I stand with canned tuna. Appearances, smells, and even texture can be extremely powerful in determining a food’s popularity in a particular culture.
So, while picky and adventurous eaters seem to be in a constant battle, not every debate is cut and dry. So you can catch me still eating my licorice, but I might still need a bit of convincing to eat that tuna fish sandwich.
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