Taste matters : why we like the foods we do / John Prescott.

Foreword / by Heston Blumenthal -- Preface : brussels sprouts and ice cream -- Taste sensations -- We eat what we like -- We like what we eat -- Learning to like -- Too much of a good thing -- Consuming passions -- Just disgusting -- You eat what you are -- Diner in a strange land -- Future taste : art and science -- Beyond survival : uncoupling taste and nutrition -- Palatability and the energy crisis.

The human tongue has somewhere up to eight thousand taste buds to inform us when something is sweet, salty, sour, or bitter. Tastes differ from one region to the next, but why is it that some people think maple syrup is too sweet, while others cannot get enough? John Prescott tackles this conundrum, exploring why we eat and seek out the foods that we do. Prescott surveys the many factors that affect taste, including genetic inheritance, maternal diet, cultural traditions, and physiological influences. He also delves into what happens when we eat for pleasure instead of nutrition, paying particularly attention to affluent Western societies. As obesity and high blood pressure are on the rise along with a number of other health issues, changes in the modern diet are very much to blame, and Prescott seeks to answer the question of why and how our tastes often lead us to eat foods that are not the best for our health. --Cf. Amazon.com.