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FOOD: Chocolate or Cheese ; Sweeth-Tooth or Savoury - What Makes Some Choose Chocolate and Others Choose Cheese? Chief Feature Writer Paul Groves Investigates

Posted on: Saturday, 26 March 2005, 09:00 CST

Take a good look at the two main pictures. Which one stirs your taste buds the most?

Chances are you will fall into one of two categories, opting for either that which excites your sweet tooth or the one that tickles your savoury palate. There will be some who can't choose, liking neither one over the other.

But, of course, things are never that simple. The sweettooth brigade do not necessarily crave all things chocolate and there may be something about that particular type in the picture which does not appeal. Similarly, even among the most ardent of cheese lovers, a classic blue stilton might actually prove a complete turn-off.

For example, I have a sweeth tooth but find dark chocolate too bitter and prefer milk or white chocolate.

So are we born with a predilection towards one or the other? Or do such tastes develop as we grow older?

"Babies naturally have a preference for sweet flavours as breast milk contains milk sugars," explained author Fiona Wilcock. "But in the early weeks of weaning it's best to try and include a range of savoury foods, such as vegetables and glutenfree cereals. These first few weeks are important for taste acquisition.

"It's easy to forget that babies have no knowledge that sweet often follows savoury in our meal tradition, so she won't be expecting "pudding" to follow "main course". This means you can afford to delay introducing sweet foods if you choose.

"Parents should not forget, however, that they must not add sugar to any of their baby's foods, unless it is sour fruit such as plums or rhubarb, and it is important to keep their child on water rather than juice as an alternative drink to milk until a little later in life.

"There is no real need for babies to have fruit squashes or juices unless you are bringing up your baby as a vegetarian, in which case dilute orange juice with meals will help with iron absorption - iron is not absorbed as easily from vegetables as from meat"If you do want to give your baby drinks or juice, make sure they are well diluted and kept to meal times. This will protect her emerging teeth."

Scientists have discovered that craving sweets and chocolate has a genetic basis. A US research team found a gene that enables the tongue's taste receptors to identify sweet things.

Progress had previously been made in identifying receptors for other tastes, such as sour, bitter and salty, but this new study concluded that being able to identify sweet things probably played a crucial role in our evolution. It enabled our ancestors to distinguish between bitter food sources, such as deadly plants, and sugary food, which is rich in energy.

"It seems fitting that thepresence or absence of a sugar chain on a sweet taste receptor should determine sensitivity and preference for sweetness in life," said Robert Margolskee, who led the research team. "Such information would be particularly useful for the identification of novel sweeteners of intense potency."

And a team from the European Centre for Taste Science in Dijon, France, concluded that a baby's taste for certain foods is established in the womb.

They tested the response of 24 new-born babies. Half of the babies' mothers had eaten anise - the main flavour of aniseed - during their pregnancy, and the other half had not. The infants were exposed to anise odour immediately after birth and again four days afterwards, to see if they showed anattraction or aversion to the smell.

In both cases, infants born to anise-consuming mothers turned towards the smell, but those whose mothers did not eat anise either ignored it or turned away.

Lead researcher Dr Benoist Schaal said the research provided the first firm scientific evidence that maternal diet can influence the food preferences of babies. It might also help to explain how addiction for certain substances might be passed from mother to baby in the womb.

Our taste buds are also linked with our emotions. Just as we can re-read a favourite book several times over and still get something out of it, just as a song or a film can bring back long distant memories, so we become acustomed to particular moodswith particular foods.There is also a cultural conumdrum that sees people in different countries have totally different reactions to the same food. Did you know, for example, that yogurt is eaten as a savoury food in Russia, but we regard it as a sweet food in Britain?

Then again there are certain flavours that most people in the world enjoy. Vanilla harks back to childhood we invariably associate it with comfort, security and homeliness.

So while millions will be over-indulging their taste for all things sweet this Easter, there will be a similar number wondering what all the fuss is about

SIDE ORDERS

Want to know more about beer? Anyone taking part in The Beer Academy's one-day foundation course will now receive a coursebook including 120 pages of information on everything from beer and health, to the art of tasting beer.

It also includes a tasting notebook for impressions of the nine beers and the four beer-and-food combinations featured on the course. The course costs pounds 95 a head, and there are also shorter and longer courses available nationwide. Phone 01276 417 855 or visit www.beeracademy.co.uk for more information

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If you fancy a bit of indulgence but have had your fill of chocolate, why not treat yourself to Haagen-Dazs' new flavour Panacotta and Raspberry, pounds 3.79. Inspired by long Italian summers, the mouth-watering combination of rich cream ice-cream swirled with a refreshing raspberry sauce, this is the ultimate ice- cream for grown-ups. Available exclusively in Waitrose and premium delicatessens

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If you love your chocolate but can't work out what to drink with it, take some advice from Green & Black's Product Development Manager Micah Carr-Hill. "The one thing to bear in mind when matching wine to desserts is that it is best to choose a wine that is as sweet, if not sweeter than the food, otherwise the wine is likely to be overpowered by what you are eating and seem unpleasantly sharp," he says.

He points out traditional sweet wines aren't always ideal and suggests Framboise liqueur or Belgian raspberry beer to complement dishes containing raspberry, while Orange Muscat is good for puddings made with white and milk chocolate. Alternatively try port or a sweeter Madeira for dark chocolate, and of course, black coffee. For more tips check out Green & Black's Chocolate Recipes, Kyle Cathie, pounds 14.99

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Have a cuppa to boost your protection against cancer. Scientists have discovered that a chemical extracted from green tea could provide the starting point for a new family of anti-cancer drugs.

Experiments showed that the polyphenol EGCG taken from green tea leaves inhibits the growth of cancer cells.

The effect was seen even at low concentrations equivalent to drinking two or three cups of green tea a day. So get the kettle on

Taste is mainly smell. Hold your nose, close your eyes, and try to tell the difference between coffee or tea, red or white wine, brandy or whisky

With a blocked nose you can't tell the difference between grated apple and grated onionWhat we often call taste is in fact flavour. Flavour is a combination of taste, smell, texture (touch sensation) and other physical features, such as temperatureOur senses can be misled - the durian fruit smells horrible, but it is called the "King of Fruits" and tastes deliciousCompared to animals, we have only one-fifth the ability of cats to distinguish between particular smells and tastes, while dogs can differentiate between the smell of clothing worn by non-identical twinsHumans can only identify up to a maximum of four odours in a mixture, regardless of whether the odours are single molecules or a complex one

The physiology of taste is a complex field and one which is affected by all manner of extrenal influences.

"Taste drives appetite and protects us from poisons, explained university researcher Tim Jacob. "So, we like the taste of sugar because we have an absolute requirement for carbohydrates. We get cravings for salt because we must have sodium chloride in our diet.

"Bitter and sour cause aversive, avoidance reactions because most poisons are bitter - most bitter substances are bad for you, certainly in excess - and off food goes sour.

"Why do medicines all taste bitter? Because theyare, in fact, poisons and if you take too much they will harm you. We have an absolute need for protein, and amino acids are the building blocks for proteins, so the "new" taste quality umami which is the meaty, savoury taste drives our appetite for amino acids.

"This taste has been known to the Japanese for a long time - but has only recently been recognised by the West. Bacon really hits our umami receptors because it is a rich source of amino acids."

Taste exhibits almost complete adaptation to a stimulus - perception of a substance fades to almost nothing in seconds. Taste can be suppressed by local anaesthetics applied to the tongue

Source: Birmingham Post; Birmingham (UK)

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