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Comment by rjzzleep | Hacker News Reader

Very interesting share, thanks.

When I transitioned to eating more fish, because I wanted to be "healthier" I started eating more salmon because that's the fish available in German supermarkets, but it's not a taste I ever particularly liked.

What's more interesting to observe is that my daughter also doesn't really like it. When you have a 1 year old eating all sorts of fresh fish, but pushing away the salmon, you can't help but wonder, if there is something about food quality that small children taste that we cannot.

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Kids are picky about food in all kinds of weird ways, and this doesn't even seem particularly surprising -- if it's a food you don't like, why would your kid like it? I think that's a simpler explanation than there being something wrong with the fish.

> When you have a 1 year old eating all sorts of fresh fish, but pushing away the salmon, you can't help but wonder, if there is something about food quality that small children taste that we cannot.

Don't think there's anything to wonder about here at all. Kids' tastebuds are different, and they're just like anyone else - individuals who can decide they don't like something.

Mostly a vegetarian diet here now, but what I miss the most is absolutely salmon. Red meat or white fish I don't crave, but that red salmon, mmmm.

But no, it's not "interesting" how your kid doesn't like it. It doesn't mean anything about the health about the product. Does your kid like candy?

Treat yourself with a salmon! It's 2023!

Farmed salmon doesn't have the red colour we associate with salmon, and they add that colour later so that it looks right to us.

https://www.foodandwine.com/news/your-salmon-might-be-lying-...

Interesting article. It seems to be saying that wild salmon are pink because of a pigment in their diet, but farmed salmon are only pink because of a pigment in their diet.

Indeed. Farmed ones aren't given the same diet. I suspect it's not as healthy for them either, but it does well enough for industrial purposes. Think of cattle feed v grass, etc

I don't think kids know anything about food quality. There is also a matter of preference but to say that the small children sense unhealthy/bad quality food is ridiculous. They would probably eat "only" junk food and sweets if given the choice.

I absolutely love raw salmon – but cook it, it is meh – I'll still eat it if offered, but for cooked fish it is far from my first choice

salmon gets unpleasantly fishy if you overcook it. a little browning round the edges while leaving the centre raw but warmed can be amazing

I do love salmon sashimi though

Interesting! Maybe she just inherited your taste in fish? I love salmon (also live in Germany) and my 4 year old likes it as well (but my 6 year old doesn't).

kids are very empathic. more likely than not, you’ve given off signals that she’s picked up on. or it could just be genetic

this idea that she’s somehow detecting an intrinsic wrongness to salmon sounds a lot like confirmation bias

Our daughter is legendary in our family for the quantity of smoked salmon she consumed at the same age.

My kids ate salmon starting at a young age. It's always been their favorite fish.

Same here - my son is an incredibly picky eater, and salmon is the one thing we can rely on him eating.

> When you have a 1 year old eating all sorts of fresh fish, but pushing away the salmon, you can't help but wonder, if there is something about food quality that small children taste that we cannot.

Definitely. I think you’re onto something here. Keep digging.

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