"It's an Acquired Taste."

Kyrian007

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Sometimes an acquired taste is not your fault.

I worked at a supermarket, the owner used to let us have whatever drinks were past sell-by dates. That sounds like a good deal, but frankly only the least ever purchased liquids remained in store that long. Like Key Lime Sunny Delight. Its horrible, awful... I can't stop drinking it. Its hard to find these days, but whenever I see some I almost always get it. My friends, "If its so bad, why are you drinking it." Me, "I really don't know."

Then (and still actually) I worked at a radio station, well actually for a company that owns 6 stations in this market. We get free promotional stuff from... lots of different places actually. And often we get cases and cases of whatever "new" flavor of drink or snack that some company is trying out. The worst... Pepsi Blue. Imagine a forklift dropping off 2 pallets of cases of Pepsi Blue. And around a radio station... there are lots of people who don't make a lot of money, trust me. So something has to be really terrible if its not gone by the end of the day. Cases of Pepsi Blue were available for over a year. So, last month I'm in a store and see... Pepsi Blue. I bought a couple of bottles. The terrible taste of the 2000s.
 

Yopaz

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Happyninja42 said:
Actually it only calms your nerves because you have developed a need for the nicotine to be calm. You develop an agitated sense of anxiety if you go too long without a smoke, and smoking just resets you back to zero state. Though I'm assuming you are talking about people you know who have a smoking habit? And not just like a cigar every few weeks when out with friends kind of smoking?
Science disagrees with you there, at least partially.
http://ijnp.oxfordjournals.org/content/4/4/371.long Indicates that it reduces anxiety, depression and stress in females.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090423193946.htm indicates less likely to retaliate when faced with provocations and also a decrease in brain metabolism.
http://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/news/20001107/think-smoking-calms-your-nerves-think-again This article agrees with you, but it deals with long-term effects rather than short-term effects.

A non-smoker (preferably female) smoking a ciggarette would possibly feel less stressed when smoking a ciggarette. A smoker not smoking would get stressed.




CrimsonBlaze said:
Growing up, I was a picky eater: obviously, I didn't eat just unhealthy stuff, but for the most part, I was comfortable with things that I could eat everyday and did not like there to be any form of complex seasons, sauces, etc. in my food. As I got older, and become more adventurous with exotic foods, I was more open to different cuisines and everyday foods that I avoided simply because I could. I found that there were many great dishes that I didn't immediately joy, but found them delicious. So I would moderately order those same dishes/foods and over time, I came to love them, without any other form of additives other than they were legitimately delicious.
This is really the most important aspect of acquired taste. I was also a picky eater growing up, but I have challenged myself with foods over the time and there are several aspects why aquiring the liking for something is a great idea. School trips, business trips, seminars, courses, parties, dinner with friends, these are all events that most of us will encounter where we generally don't get to choose the exact menu. Now I enjoy most food and drinks so I am very comfortable at these kind of events. I can enjoy some great meals, some decent wine, beer, soda, juice, cocktail spirits etc. and it's great. Now the biggest downer at this kind of events is the picky eater, the one who has never been challenged to try different kinds of food, the one who insists on ordering the pizza with cheese and tomato sauce, the one who does not want this or that spice in the sauce or not this topping, or Indian food, or Chinese food or spicy food. My sister is my complete opposite in this and my mom always hates cooking for her when she's visiting because she always need to take special care when preparing meals. So my first point is that an acquired taste is practical because you can always find something you like. Second it's important to fit in (kinda like peer pressure I guess). Third it's fun. I can experience lots of different tastes because I took the time to try things more than once and thus I will never get tred of eating things. I can choose from a huge variety and it's really enjoyable. Food, wine, beer, candy, deserts, music, anime, comedy. It's all an acquired taste. Some things are so bad that you can't force it, but at least you tried it and decided it's not for you.
 

The Philistine

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'An acquired taste' has the intrinsic understanding that not everyone is going to enjoy a particular thing. If you have no enjoyment from something to begin with, then you probably have no basis to start enjoying it.
 

Steppin Razor

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I'll leave my passive aggressive rant out about this thread again and how 7 years of escapist usage and they're still the same old holier-than-thou attitudes being expressed.

Regardless, it's extraordinarily simple - most people get exposed to alcohol through family and friends. Lots of people actually enjoy beer, wine or spirits from the beginning but for those that don't it usually follows a pattern of having a drink here or there when one is offered to you and after repeated exposure you find yourself starting to enjoy it. I enjoyed mixed spirits from the start and usually have a few bottles of whiskey and bourbon on hand, occasionally a rum, for when I feel like having a nice drink. But beer tasted fairly woeful to me from the beginning and it was only after some bbqs sharing a few beers with friends and family that my taste developed to appreciate some beers. Not all, mind, Heineken still makes me want to hurl it up.

There really is no difference between alcohol and foods in that respect. The first time you eat something completely different to anything you've ever had, or with an overpowering flavour or texture, there's a pretty good chance you might not like it. Trying it again at a later date you might find you have developed an appreciation for it. Heck, we like to get tourists to eat Vegemite over here, one of those things that is the very definition of an acquired taste. If you didn't grow up eating it there's almost no chance you'll ever like it.
 

Bluemanzee

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Maybe I'm weird, but I've never found beer and coffee to taste bad to me because I've enjoyed both from the get-go. Some bad coffees and beers (particularly the cheap mass-produced kind) are often people's first experiences. Understandably, it could go either way at that point.
The Philistine said:
'An acquired taste' has the intrinsic understanding that not everyone is going to enjoy a particular thing. If you have no enjoyment from something to begin with, then you probably have no basis to start enjoying it.
This is a very good description of the phrase, I think.
 

Spudgun Man

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Maybe you should get your man shorts out of the closet.

Booze makes the bad go away, also it numbs my fists after beating my wife
 

JamesStone

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Some books require a double or triple reading to understand and appreciate properly.

Some games you have to play twice to get the entire experience, or to better appreciate the experience you had.

Some movies are made to be seen multiple times to truly get the meaning.


This is just gonna be a "complaint about people complaining" rant, so I'm keeping it simple. I am absolutely baffled how the concept of "an acquired taste" could slip through someone's grasp, even when it comes to alcoholic drinks.

Drinking beer for the first time can be like eating spicy food. The strength of the ingestible can be overwhelming, but once you've been subjected to it multiple times you begin to appreciate the hidden flavors which the ingestible has or brings in (and the only reason I explained this is because once again I was confused by a post of yours asking "why can't the drink stand out on its own?". Really dude?)

Still, you might not like the "acquired taste". There's nothing strange in that. There's plenty of strangeness in not understanding the very basic concept of why a taste can be acquired in the first place.
 

Neurotic Void Melody

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Everything other than instant highs are technically acquired tastes, aren't they? More than 90℅ of my current joys are things that were not instantly gratifying. They took multiple situations and variations of experiences before I started to warm to them properly. Pearl Jam's Live on two legs album and Lifehouse album who's name evades me currently both took a few isolated listens before I could fully appreciate the subtleties that start to shine through. Dark Souls and Sniper Elite were acquired gaming tastes also. Beer was one of the last alcohols I warmed to (hehe!), even though most guys around me seem to default to that as their go-to social booze.
 

Saetha

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JamesStone said:
Well, I wouldn't watch a movie I didn't like three times over, even if that's how you get "the full experience." I also hate spicy food, so, there you go - although I have way less issue with that argument in regards to spicy food since people haven't tried to, repeatedly and at length, tried to pressure me into eating it.

That being said, I already pointed out - multiple times - that I understand HOW taste can be acquired. It's the why that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. People have provided some very good explanations and situations in which a taste could or should be acquired. So I fail to see why you misconstrued my point and then insulted me for asking a question that I didn't.

Lastly - why CAN'T a drink stand on it's own? If you think I'm wrong, please explain why. I really, sincerely would like an explanation. But dude, you're being rude for no reason.
 

shrekfan246

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Saetha said:
Like - what is your problem? I've had alcoholic drinks before. I didn't like the taste of them. That's not an excuse. I don't understand why you've taken it as such, and I don't understand the hostility over this either.
When I was younger, I didn't particularly enjoy the taste of alcohol either; additionally, I thought (and still somewhat do think) that it was pretty pointless and irresponsible of people to just drink for the purposes of getting drunk. Obviously I can only speak for myself, but those two things weren't entirely disconnected. My perceptions of the culture surrounding drinking impacted my perceptions and impressions of drinking itself.

Now, there are still plenty of beers I don't like. I'm really not a fan of anything that's especially bitter, which means that I don't like all of those IPAs that everyone seems to be obsessed with, and certain lagers and ales end up having an aftertaste more of gasoline than anything palatable. Whiskey burns too much for my enjoyment, and a lot of things like rum and vodka are just not that good on their own but when mixed into something add little more than a pleasant kick to it.

Hey, maybe you just don't like alcohol. But another aspect of "acquired taste" is the fact that your tastes change. And there are an endless number of different alcoholic drinks out there with an endless variety of different strengths and flavors, many that don't even have a taste of alcohol to them at all. You're not beholden to try them, but is it ever a bad thing to keep your mind open to the possibility of finding something you'll like?
 

McElroy

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Saetha said:
Lastly - why CAN'T a drink stand on it's own? If you think I'm wrong, please explain why. I really, sincerely would like an explanation.
I thought I gave a decent answer already on page one, but imagine eating a raw steak with no salt on it. Or just salt. Just because salt tastes bad on its own doesn't mean the steak will be worse with salt. It's the same thing with alcoholic drinks. You can't just get a bunch of juniper berries and throw them into some grapefruit soda expecting it to taste better than a lonkero because there is no alcohol to "bring it down".
 

gsilver

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For those who don't get "acquired taste" (mostly the OP) just think of the foods that you liked as a young child.
Loved sugar? Hated vegetables? Candy the be-all and end-all of foods? McDonalds was somehow really really tasty?

Now think of what you eat now. How much of that stuff do you find delicious now, but would you have turned your nose up at before? How much of the stuff that you used to love no longer tastes nearly as good?

Acquired tastes, everywhere.
 

Lufia Erim

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Lol what?

Coffee is an aquired taste. Every noticed why people put heaps of milk and sugar in their coffee? Because they haven't acquired the taste yet.

What the hell are you people talking about?

Same with Dark chocolat. Which is suppose to be good for you.

Hell I'd argue some fruits and vegetables are an acquired taste. Ever had asparagus ?

I really feel like you ( and half the people in this thread) have no idea what they are talking about.
 
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It's a thing.

There are lots of flavours that are icky at first taste (especially if you got those young taste buds) but you can quickly learn to love. These include many of my favourite things: Beer, wine, whisky, gin, coffee and strong cheeses all fit in this category. People can feel how they want about what they eat, but my experience is that "acclimatising" (if you like) to these tastes is worthwhile, and makes simple sweet flavours like chocolate or cola seem pretty boring.
 

FalloutJack

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I thought acquired taste meant that something had achieved cult status.
 

Secondhand Revenant

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It's pretty dumb. If you don't like it then why bother trying to? It's not like it has a great benefit lol

Personally though, I have had things I've liked about the taste of alcohol without needing to acquire the taste. Some people like it better than others. Does make me a bit pickier tho, I do care about the flavor and not just getting tipsy usually
 

Remus

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Blue cheese I only started to like after I tried it on pizza. Now I can't get enough of the stuff! All cheeses lose a certain amount of flavor when cooked. Really weak cheese is just like eating a layer of melted plastic when heated or used over hot food. Blue cheese tastes just right when cooked over pizza or just cooked period. so by itself in slices, likely not a good idea. But properly prepared? Delicious.

I just started drinking coffee a couple years ago over the holidays. Everyone, EVERYONE was talking about pumpkin spice latte like it was the McRib of coffees. So I tried it and liked it. I still can't drink straight black coffee, or for that matter, anything without a serious amount of cream and flavor. I like my coffee like I like my hamburger - loaded with so much garbage that it ceases tasting like the base ingredient and becomes something else. If it's not utterly transformative I won't have it.

An acquired taste is possible without suffering through the worst or farthest extreme something has to offer. I may pick up on a type of music or a particular singer only after they had reached a certain level of ubiquity, of social pervasiveness where I cannot turn on a television without hearing them in a movie trailer. Then it becomes a matter of osmosis, in which I find that one que that I like and start to enjoy the thing. Or it could be that one song in the end credits that may not have caught on in the Americas from a band I have somehow never heard of. These things do happen and have happened. It only gets ridiculous when that thing is later featured in a commercial for pistachios or Ellen (UGH Ellen!) Critical overexposure of media is a very bad thing - and quite common.

But I still hate Meshuggah.
 

jklinders

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Acquired taste is more than just simply accepting an unpleasant flavor. There are actually conditioned responses we can obtain from experiencing the effects of a thing which is then interpreted as pleasurable or unpleasant for us. It's a combination of physiology and psychology that informs this.

It's most prevalent in drugs or alcohol but also present in food tastes too. Naturally we gravitate to sweet flavors as sweet in nature means easily digested and absorbed energy. bitter on the other hand often but not always means poison. There are lots of very healthy foods that have bitter flavors so repeated exposure can "teach" you to like the flavor in that case as your body sees it's benefit.

it works the other way too. I used to love a certain kind of rum. I had one wholly unpleasant encounter with it years ago and it now tastes vile to me. My brain tells me "no, this is bad leave it on the shelf."

Other addictive drugs out and out trick your defense mechanisms by replacing or enhancing your neurotransmitters. nicotine is a prime example of this.

With the above in mind, when I say something is an acquired taste I'm usually suggesting that you need to get used to a flavor and the item's effect on you before knowing for sure if it's good or not. This is as much true for food as it is for the (responsible) use of alcohol. I would never entertain smoking and have not tried other things.
 

gsilver

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Sexual Harassment Panda said:
but my experience is that "acclimatising" (if you like) to these tastes is worthwhile, and makes simple sweet flavours like chocolate ... seem pretty boring.
Someone needs to familiarize themselves with the world of high-end dark chocolate.

Maybe I'm biased because there's a high-end chocolatier in my town, but the world of fine chocolate is both wide and wonderful.