What People Say Food Tastes Like v. Reality
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laur7311
Posts: 11 Member
Every time I load up on my spring mix I always hear a voice in the back of my mind saying that this will have an "earthy" flavor. To me earthy tones equates to dirt flavored. 
What other foods have you had that people use a colorful and more appealing palate descriptor that you just find funny?
What other foods have you had that people use a colorful and more appealing palate descriptor that you just find funny?
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Nutty.
It seems I hear a number of things described as having a nutty flavor, even wine. I drink wine, it always tastes like wine to me.0 -
Mrs Jruzer says that roasted asparagus is better than candy. Neither I nor the kids are buying that.0
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Ever since I was a kid I've always said that bell peppers taste "like dirt" to me. It's a running joke in my family. How about "it tastes like chicken"? I've been told that about several different animals I've tried in the past and nope, not like chicken.0
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Wine is the classic example of this, but some coffee places now have equally colorful descriptions of what coffee is supposed to taste like.
A local wine and cheese, etc. place has great cheese descriptions. A couple of examples are "bourbon-raw almonds-tobacco leaf" and "clean sheets-kefir-lemon peel."
I also always like how people who dislike cilantro describe the taste of cilantro (which I love).0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »I also always like how people who dislike cilantro describe the taste of cilantro (which I love).
Ahhh, cilantro! The red-headed step-child of herbs ... there are really only two camps: those that love it and those that think is tastes like soap. I love it ... it has a lemony-herbal flavor that really kicks food up a notch. Besides, you cannot have awesome homemade salsa without it.
When growing up, I had adults tell me that I would like liver, that it tastes a bit like beef. Heck, if I could not even stand the smell, what makes you think it is going in my mouth?0 -
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BTW, before we see a horde of people here dismiss other peoples' palates, training your nose is one of the hardest things to do.
Combining a smell/flavor with flavor/odor descriptors requires wiring 2 parts of the brain that are not connected/trained.
There are myriads of flavor compounds in all the foods/drinks we consume and the fact that people can identify them (through vigorous training) and you don't doesn't mean they"re making stuff up.0 -
You guys have heard of super-tasters, haven't you? I think cilantro smells like soap. No thank you. I use parsley instead. Hubby asks if I am cooking with dish detergent every time I cook with ginger (which I love).
Mystery meat, apparently, all tastes like chicken.
I swear you can smell swamp grass on venison and duck.0 -
I went wine-tasting recently and FINALLY figured out what they meant by "spicy" when referring to Zinfandel. Spicy is something I equate with peppers and Mexican or Indian or Szechuan food, not wine! To me "spicy" wine is just...not good.0
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I hate ginger but I'm pretty meh on cilantro. I will eat it. But it is not something I've purposely cooked with before. But I avoid ginger like the plague.0
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At a beer tasting, the words "leather" and "wet dog" to describe one of the samples. Some of the people really liked that one too
lol 0 -
HappyCampr1 wrote: »See, I've drunk enough coffee to actually taste the nutty ones (which I don't like) from the spicy ones. How did I learn? Every time I like a coffee, it's described on the package as spicy, lol
I haven't drunk enough wine to tell much, but I can taste the "mineral/slate" in certain German wines. I have yet to taste vanilla in my Chardonnay though.
My favorite surprisingly common wine description is cat's pee on a gooseberry bush (which one wine has now taken as a name, apparently). New Zealand Sav Blanc, of course.
Wet dog in wine is generally a good sign that it's corked.0 -
You guys have heard of super-tasters, haven't you? I think cilantro smells like soap. No thank you. I use parsley instead. Hubby asks if I am cooking with dish detergent every time I cook with ginger (which I love).
Mystery meat, apparently, all tastes like chicken.
I swear you can smell swamp grass on venison and duck.
I despise cilantro. No... that isn't strong enough. I LOATHE cilantro. I can't even stand to buy it for my husband who loves it... I can smell through the bag and then it's on my hands. ::shudder:: And, of course, I live in the Southwest U.S. where that put that awful stuff on EVERYTHING. I don't think "soapy" is the word I'd use to describe it but others have used that word. It's just bitter and ugh....
I really need to find the article again but I read a several years ago where a fellow hater decided to figure out why those who love it do. So, they burnt it like you would other foods to figure out calories and at the point that all of the lovers were sniffing and loving the smell, the haters smelled nothing.0 -
You guys have heard of super-tasters, haven't you? I think cilantro smells like soap. No thank you. I use parsley instead. Hubby asks if I am cooking with dish detergent every time I cook with ginger (which I love).
Mystery meat, apparently, all tastes like chicken.
I swear you can smell swamp grass on venison and duck.
I despise cilantro. No... that isn't strong enough. I LOATHE cilantro. I can't even stand to buy it for my husband who loves it... I can smell through the bag and then it's on my hands. ::shudder:: And, of course, I live in the Southwest U.S. where that put that awful stuff on EVERYTHING. I don't think "soapy" is the word I'd use to describe it but others have used that word. It's just bitter and ugh....
I really need to find the article again but I read a several years ago where a fellow hater decided to figure out why those who love it do. So, they burnt it like you would other foods to figure out calories and at the point that all of the lovers were sniffing and loving the smell, the haters smelled nothing.
My fiance is with you on cilantro - bitter and ugh rather than soapy. You may need a specific gene for soapy.
I grow it in the garden so I can add a pinch to my Asian or Latin American dishes.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2012/09/14/161057954/love-to-hate-cilantro-its-in-your-genes-and-maybe-in-your-head
As Nature reports, McGee offers a strategy for building up an appreciation for the herb: Try a cilantro pesto. Crushing the leaves, he says, releases enzymes that convert the soapy, stinky compounds into more mild aromas. The recipe for the pesto is on the website.
But Julia Child, an avowed cilantro hater, said she would just pick it out and throw it on the floor, Nature reports.
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The hate on cilantro baffles me. I don't really mind the taste or the smell. It just tastes like.. cilantro to me. Nothing too special nothing too nasty. I can't find that "soapy" or, like one of my friends described it, "buggy" flavor.0
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rhtexasgal wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »I also always like how people who dislike cilantro describe the taste of cilantro (which I love).
Ahhh, cilantro! The red-headed step-child of herbs ... there are really only two camps: those that love it and those that think is tastes like soap. I love it ... it has a lemony-herbal flavor that really kicks food up a notch. Besides, you cannot have awesome homemade salsa without it.
When growing up, I had adults tell me that I would like liver, that it tastes a bit like beef. Heck, if I could not even stand the smell, what makes you think it is going in my mouth?
I'm a third camp. It used to taste like soap to me, and would absolutely ruin anything it was in. But I like Mexi-Cali, Thai, and other cuisines that make extensive use of cilantro, and it's not always possible to get it served without the cilantro, so I would order anyway and try to eat around it, but that's not always possible, either. Eventually I realized it no longer tasted like soap to me. It doesn't taste "lemony-herbal" good to me, and if I absentmindedly eat a sprig without anything else to cover it up, it still tastes unpleasant, but most of the time I don't taste it at all. It's like my brain is just suppressing the flavor, like you might get used to an annoying background noise or an unpleasant odor.0 -
amusedmonkey wrote: »The hate on cilantro baffles me. I don't really mind the taste or the smell. It just tastes like.. cilantro to me. Nothing too special nothing too nasty. I can't find that "soapy" or, like one of my friends described it, "buggy" flavor.
Wikipedia cites some studies suggesting it's a genetic thing - genes controlling the ability to smell two different kinds of chemicals in cilantro, one of which is generally perceived as pleasantly aromatic and one which is generally perceived as unpleasant, as well as genes for tasting bitterness. It seems odd that it there should be so many different receptors involved and yet everyone talks about it as though there are only two types of people when it comes to cilantro. I mean, if it were one gene, or group of genes all affecting the ability to smell or taste a single family of esters or flavinoids or whatever is involved, it would make sense that there are only two kinds of people, depending on whether you were sensitive or not to the particular chemical involved. But with what sounds like three different things you can be sensing or not, you would think there would be more variation in how people respond to cilantro.
Maybe people in the muddy middle just keep their mouths shut.
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Chocolate notes in some scuzzy el cheapo wine I bought. Chocolate underwears was more like it.
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I always think that Parma Violets taste like perfume... Gross!0
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Good - when describing many protein shakes
Add a hand full of fresh fruit and scoop of ice cream to the blender and it may taste good....
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