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Has your sense of taste changed as you get older?

"I can't eat spicy food anymore," my friend Billie, 84, said. Raises hand.

Never could stand hot, spicy food. It burns my mucous membranes. Always choose "mild" spices in Vietnamese restaurants. Now even a pinch of chili pepper is a hard no.

New to WA State, my new friends ordered a pizza. I picked jalapeno peppers off a slice and a little later rubbed my eyes. My eyes burst on fire! That taught me. Growing up in Michigan with Italian families (delicious food), I never saw jalapeno peppers on pizza before.

Mom made us kids cinnamon toast. Yum. To my dismay, now cinnamon is too spicy. Pumpkin bread recipes call for 1-1/2 tsp. of cinnamon. Gradually decreased it to 1/8 tsp.

I love ginger. But ground dried ginger is down to 1/8 tsp. in quick breads. I add a small piece of fresh ginger to the pot when making chicken vegetable soup. It creates depth of flavor.

Raw onions? Instead I slowly caramelize onions over low heat until soft and mild.

Despite wearing a mask indoors, I caught COVID-19 in April 2022. Can't blame the virus. My sensitivity to spicy food has been increasing for decades.

At this rate, by age 90 I'll be down to bland pablum. Good grief.

Your thoughts?

LiterateHiker 9 Sep 14
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12 comments

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1

Lost my sweet tooth, but my taste for curries, garlic cumin and such is stronger than ever. My taste for hot is mild to medium by tropical standards, green Tabasco is ideal; spicy but you can still taste something besides fire.

1

Not really seen any change. Still love very spicy.

1

Let's just say that I've had to wean down to hot....

1

Lets just say they've 'matured.'

1

I've not experienced any significant change myself.

2

I never did like spicy, and it has not improved over time.

2

There are foods I loved as a kid that I'm no longer interested in. But I'm always trying new foods.

5

As a nine year old child I used to wander alone for miles in the bush. When I felt hungry I would pick some wild, green fruit. That is how I learnt to eat raw chillies!
These wild ones were not the "killer" varieties that macho idiots have popularised, more like a jalapeño, and rich in flavour.
In Swahili there is a distinction between hot (moto) and spicy (kali). Spanish, too has a word meaning "kali" - brava or bravo. English could certainly do with one these days, especially in the UK where curry has become the nation's favourite take-away dish.
To this day I still avoid excessively kali foods, but I also complain about much food being too bland.

I can still remember cruising Albuquerque as a preteen with my cousin in his car with a basket of raw jalapenos between us.
Those were wonderful days.

I don't go for 'killer' especially either. But I don't mind hot. I love habaneros and jalapenos but I don't care for ghost peppers -- they're just hot for the sake of hot, no flavor.

@RichCC I lived in Grants and Belen for about 6 years...I LOVED the food out there. There was a small 50's style diner in Magdelena NM(about 30 miles west of Socorro on Hwy 60) that had the HOTTEST Coney Dogs...but they were GREAT. The Owl Cafe down on Hwy 380 in San Antonio was another good one...famous for their Chile Cheeseburgers.

3

My sense of taste remains as keen as ever. With the exception of sour tasting foods, extremely hot curries and shellfish, nothing is off the menu.

3

To a degree I'm the opposite. As I've aged my tolerance for spicy foods has increased (insert numb from the neck up joke here).

My goto lazy comfort food these days is an hour's worth of pressure cooker black beans mixed with a half hour's worth of brown rice. All slathered in olive oil, vinegar and sriracha sauce. I can tell when it gets too spicy when it gives me the hiccups.
Ha, ha. It still tastes good though.🙂

My favorite pizza topping is hot jalapeno peppers.

@RichCC

Love your sense of humor!

5

I never was a fan of spicy hot and that has not changed. Love ginger, pickled ginger is yummy, can take raw garlic in a Caesar Salad but no hot peppers. I miss garlic bread and Philly cheese stakes, been gluten free since the mid 1990s other wise the cost and effort to make gluten free bread is not worth it.
For me it's not the taste but the gut, love Walla Walla Sweet onion-sauted, carmelized or raw but have to limit the amount or my guts rebel😟.

@silverotter11

Thanks for your reply. I understand.

Raw apples upset my stomach. Cooked apples are fine.

@LiterateHiker Yes, since we're not 50😏🤣😈.

6

Nahhhh...Bring on the spices. 😛

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