Hacker News Reader

Comment by munificent | Hacker News Reader

> The very idea of forcing myself to "acquire the taste" for alcohol seems distasteful in itself.

The logic of any acquired taste is simple:

It takes a finite amount of effort to acquire the taste.

In return, you get satisfaction for the acquired taste that is only bound by the length of your life. The sooner you acquire the taste, the longer you get to amortize the value.

I've taught myself to enjoy damn near every food and drink out there and I am immensely glad that I have—I now inhabit a world filled with delights.

View on HN

> I've taught myself to enjoy damn near every food and drink out there and I am immensely glad that I have—I now inhabit a world filled with delights.

Well yeah, when you have drugs to "teach" your brain how to enjoy something (i.e. "this flavor = feel goods"), it's not that hard. I always figure that having to aqcuire the taste of something via drugs is a warning sign that said thing is probably not good for your body. Take tobacco connoisseurs for example.

I don't doubt that they can taste and enjoy lots of "woody" and "grassy" flavors in their smoke, but to someone like me without the acquired taste, it smells foul and acrid, and my brain is warning me to stay away.

Who said anything about having to use drugs to acquire a taste?

Are there any acquired tastes that don't require some form of drug usage (alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, etc.)?

Organ meats

Lots of people don't naturally like: avocados, olives, kombucha, stinky cheeses, offal, sushi, etc.

Even with coffee and tea, the acquisition works just as well if you drink decaf. (I only have one cup of caffeinated beverage a day, but I still occasionally enjoy a cup of decaf in the afternoons.)

Ummmm... Plenty. Wikipedia has many examples

>An acquired taste often refers to an appreciation for a food or beverage that is unlikely to be enjoyed by a person who has not had substantial exposure to it, usually because of some unfamiliar aspect of the food or beverage, including a strong or strange odor (e.g. stinky tofu, Gefilte fish, durian, hákarl, black salt, nattō, stinking toe, asafoetida, surströmming, or certain types of cheese), taste (such as alcoholic beverages, vegemite/marmite, bitter teas, salty liquorice, malt bread, unsweetened chocolate or garnatálg), or appearance.

Macedonian trad/jazz fusion music. Dadaist art. Sauna (the Finnish way).

There's nothing wrong with Esma Redzepova.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com