Ok, so the culinary thread made me think of something. I was talking about kohlrabi, and was about to launch into a rant about how awful it is, but checked myself because that was not the place. This is. I was talking to my mother and sister at Christmastime about foods I disliked. They both said I was finicky. I said I was not, but certain things just tasted way to bitter, and other things were simply too strong. My mother said I must be a taster and that my dad was too. I didn't know what a taster was, so I looked it up tonight. Here's a very interesting article:

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/helthrpt/stories/s369.htm

So, I tested myself. And I have a blue tongue to show for it. (In order to test yourself, you swab the tip of your tongue with blue food coloring, and look at your little fungiformy bits, which stay more pink than the rest of your tongue. Non-tasters will have polka dots, and the strongest tasters will have edge-to-edge fungiformy bits.) I am a taster. Nay, I'm a supertaster. Which means sweet things taste twice as sweet to me, bitter things twice as bitter, etc. Which really does go a long way to explain my sometimes eccentric food preferences.

However, it leaves me baffled by a few things... I LOVE coffee, and given my druthers I drink it black. The article says that most tasters don't really like coffee, unless it has sugar and cream in. I NEVER sugar my coffee, and I only cream it if it's too strong. But then, my sister always complains that I make very weak coffee, so maybe that isn't so odd after all.

I can't stand cabbage, brussle sprouts, kohlrabi or cauliflower, and I used to HATE broccoli as well. The article says that tasters will probably dislike all of those things, broccoli least of those because it has the least amount of the bitter chemical.

I do like hot things, though. Maybe the things I always thought were quite hot were just not nearly as hot as I thought. That seems likely, considering that the red beans and rice my husband makes are so tastey that I keep eating, even though they're so spicey that I get welts on the inside of my mouth. The article says that tasters are prone to irritation from spicey foods.

And the bit about fat... that's VERY interesting to me.

So anyway, are you willing to paint your tongue blue? Are you a taster too?

I'll have to go buy the blue food color, but I can almost guarantee I'm a supertaster. All the food things they mentioned.. the grapefruit juice, coffee, the foods.. all point towards it. I just thought I had a well developed bitter tastebud

I'll bet I'm a super taster too - I do not like bitter or sour at all, and I don't drink coffee period.
Although I do like sprouts and cauliflower...hmmmmm.