Working at a food company, I think a lot about whether or not taste is subjective — meaning what tastes good to one person might taste bad to another — or objective — meaning a food can definitively be ranked on a scale of 1-10 on how good it tastes.
My gut instinct was to say that the taste of food is completely subjective since we all have different tongues and all interpret tastes in different ways, and it's simply much easier to argue that taste is subjective given that we all have different favorite foods.
And then I remembered that tofu exists. And then I thought, you know what, maybe there's some objectivity to this after all.
I am hereby affirming my belief that some foods do taste categorically bad. The only judge I will trust in this debate is a whiny five-year-old. If the toddler won't eat it, then it's a categorically bad tasting food. Adults may condition themselves to believe they like asparagus, but not even evolution could solve for that naturally.
If the five-year-old eats it, then it's a thumbs up. If the five-year-old spits it out, then it's a thumbs down. Simple as that.
Taste and smell are also strongly connected to our memory and emotional pathways. Neurologically speaking, good memories or emotions tied to food could also make you enjoy them more. ie warm chocolate chip cookies after a holiday meal. They will usually be unliked by five year olds if they aren’t sweet or gooey — so, vegetables are off the table (and probably on the floor) — and they will likely be associated with negative emotions. At least until you convince yourself you like asparagus…