How does it Taste?

It was a dark and gloomy day, the air blew with might and rain pounded the very fibers of the Social Sciences building. I was about to take the stand to go forth and face my destiny. Then, like a roar from a hungry lion seeking to tear me to shreds and devour me, I heard those dreadful words, "you are next". Then I stood and took my position, as if getting ready to be executed in front of an anxious firing squad. The fear penetrated deep into my soul as I began with these words, "Today I will share with you a few exhilarating details about my Guatemalan culture". OK, so maybe I was slightly overly dramatic, but it is a fact that one of the most feared tasks by Americans is to give a public speech. But, today we are not talking about fear, I will leave that topic open for a later post. Today, I want to talk about taste perception and how this is very important. Because I can say this dish is exquisite, then you might be eating the exact same dish a few hundreds miles down the road and say this is horribly disgusting. So, who is right? Let's first seek out the absolute truths and then move from that on to the question at hand. To begin with, what dish are we arguing about? Well, see the image I added, those round potato looking things are called "rellenitos de platano". They are egg shaped deserts made out of plantains filled with black re-fried beans and covered with a bit of sugar. Then they are served with a side of sour cream, and they are amazingly and exquisitely a jaw dropping delicacy, from my perspective. So, some of you might be disgusted at the mere thought of having to eat this desert. So, let's recap; it is truth that this is a "rellenito de platano" and nobody can deny that, even if the masses declare it to be a fried rat, it is still what it is. Another truth is that the tongue, which the is the central organ of the gustatory system, has four primary taste submodalities generally recognized as sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. So, we can all sense sweetness from the sugar, sense sourness from the sour cream, and maybe even bitterness and saltiness from the "rellenito de platano". But our perception of delicacy or disgust is not as easy as sensing these four submodalities of the gustatory system. We can sense sweetness, but it is up to our personal taste to declare that sweetness is delicious or disgusting. We are given food when we can't consciously choose our meals, but it is then that we begin developing our personal taste. So, as a child you can gain pleasure from eating a donut and acquire a sense of disgust from eating broccoli, while your friend being the same age can have the opposite reaction. This contributes to your personal taste, which grows in knowledge as you experience different flavors and combinations of flavors. So, going back to the base question, Who is right? Well, both of the characters in this story are right, because our perception of good versus disgusting is derived from our personal taste. But the original question should be phrased, "How does it taste to you?". Because we have all had different experiences, which have molded our personal taste. Not withholding the truth; this a "rellenito de platano" and it is a desert originated in Guatemala. This brings into attention a logical deduction; Individuals will reasonably be expected to pursue those experiences that they find pleasurable, and they will make their investments derived from patterns of past pleasures. I will seek to stuff my belly with "rellenitos de platano", while you seek to stuff yours with a cake, chocolate dipped strawberries, or a combination of both.