Thursday, July 22, 2021

Food Preferences (post #1)

 The idea that infants can develop preferences for specific food from what their mother happens to eat while pregnant and/or breast feeding is quite interesting. Upon reading through the "Food" power-point, I was able to learn a great deal about how individual's grow to like certain foods over others. For example, when my mother was pregnant with me she told me that she would crave chocolate constantly and growing up I have always loved anything chocolate. To this day my favorite sweet treat is anything chocolate, such as chocolate ice cream, chocolate covered pretzels or apples. Although I am aware that there is a correlation between what a mother eats throughout her pregnancy and what the child prefers to eat, I still find it intriguing to learn about the science behind this theory. Human beings not only have an innate preference for specific foods, they also have learned preferences for different foods. 

For example, when an individual is exposed to a specific type of food on multiple occasions then they are more likely to desire that specific food (as long as they enjoy the specific food choice). I also understand that food often tastes better when an individual is hungry rather than when they are not as hungry. I have experienced this before when I ate a salad from my work when I was hungry versus when I was not so hungry. When I ate the salad when I was hungry, it was delicious but when I ate that same salad when I was not very hungry, that same salad was not very good at all. Overall, I find the concept of human beings food preferences to be a quite interesting topic.

3 comments:

  1. Wow! It is really interesting that your mother craved chocolate during her pregnancy with you and now you love chocolate! Even though we can learn about it in the PowerPoint or can read about it happening as a general biological phenomenon, it is cool to be able to experience that situation first hand. I also like how you touched on the fact that food tends to taste better when you eat while hungry. I agree that when I am really hungry and haven't eaten all day, any food tastes great to me, even foods I wouldn't typically go for when I am not very hungry.

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  2. Very Interesting! I find it really cool how sometimes children can develop preferences for specific food due to the mother. I actually went ahead and asked my mother what she mostly ate during her pregnancy and one of the things she pointed out was pickles, and its funny she says that because I eat pickles a lot randomly as a snack. Very cool!

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  3. I really enjoyed reading about your personal experience and connection to your mom! I experienced the same thing, as my mother had the same cravings and I also enjoy chocolate and other sweeter foods. Plus, your example about eating something when hungry versus not as hungry was so cool because it is definitely an experience that many, if not all of us have had. Sometimes a food that I may not like that much suddenly tastes a lot better simply because I am hungrier.

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