Age affects ability to taste. So do many lifestyle choices.

After the age of 60, the number of taste buds decrease, and the remaining ones have less and less sensitivity.

Harte

(02-05-2026, 11:36 AM)Harte Wrote: Age affects ability to taste. So do many lifestyle choices.

After the age of 60, the number of taste buds decrease, and the remaining ones have less and less sensitivity.

Harte

Wow, I didn't know that and it's sad because when the body fails one would hope the brain and taste buds would be the last to go.

Anyone had Paneer cheese?  It's like eating polystyrene.  One imagines, not actually tried eating polystyrene.

I had set up a cockamamie theory in my head... but suddenly... me hitting the 60 year threshold makes it appear weak...

I spent a great time in my youth in - gastronomically speaking - heaven... for my tastes.

It included the likes of leaning out my door and reaching a great huge avocado, or a giant grapefruit.  An almond tree (very old) in the front yard... Mangoes were enormous... it was ... nice.

As I understand my youthful taste-buds were to account for the enjoyment I got there and then..

But now - I look at fruit and produce - and I want to weep.

Anemic samples of fruit pick before ripe and subjected to ethylene to "induce" ripening... leaving a small rock-like fruit object... which over-ripens in three days... never achieving anything like "flavorful' status.

Citrus today would never have been sold in groceries stores... only used for frozen concentrate.

I recall distinctly that Florida oranges weren't just bigger... the flavor was distinct and sharply robust as well as sweet.

Ever notice how much our orange juice tastes like "rind?"

That's not supposed to be part of the flavor profile... or at least it didn't used to be.

Better, worse? Does it matter?

Maybe it's better that as we get older, out taste buds become less reactive to some flavors... for some obtuse scientific reason...

Still... It has long seemed less "flavorful" as we went all-in on industrial synthetic "quasi-food" commerce.

(01-31-2026, 04:49 PM)UltraBudgie Wrote: hello there is food that is tasteless that didn't use to be!

it used to have zing and aftertaste and be satisfying in way that is not any more

now why is this

well here is expanations theories any why you share your opinion:

- it is the covid it did something
- it is frankenfood and capitalisms
- we mandela effect jumped to other timeline with bland food
- it is drugs they put in to make unsaisfy and eat more so fat and sell drugs
- it is simulation like in matrix they couldn't make chicken

now perhaps the covid no taste thing is coverup for something else! oh it could also be some kind of warfare?

what, do you think and your experience?

also there is company sysco that has all restraunt food supply has anyone looked in to them

That’s so you won’t have a problem eating plant based garbage and bug burgers. Won’t taste so horrible if you can’t really ‘taste’ it.

(02-05-2026, 12:00 PM)Oldcarpy2 Wrote: Anyone had Paneer cheese?  It's like eating polystyrene.  One imagines, not actually tried eating polystyrene.

Yeah I am not a fan.
It is similar to tofu in tastelessness.

Saag paneer for example 
'Paneer, is a fresh acid-set cheese, common in cuisine of South Asia, made from cow milk or buffalo milk. It is a non-aged, non-melting soft cheese made by curdling milk with an acid, such as lemon juice or citric acid. Paneer was predominantly used in most north Indian dishes and is now commonly used throughout India due to its versatility as an ingredient' 


Since I am 65% vegetarian now, I tried cooking tofu in sesame oil and frying it, its better, but stil not great.
The only way to make tofu 'good' is to have it in Korean stews, so you are tasting the chili pepper and the veggies.....

Paneer I guess is similar, you focus on the taste of what's around it.  Like the saus err sauce.

Here in Mexico there’s a vegetable market just down the street, and across from that is a butcher shop. Everything is fresh, and it tastes like it should. I’ll be 60 this year and have noticed that the taste buds don’t seem to work as well as they did.

Lots of Roma tomatoes, but tasty beefsteak ones are harder to find. The beef and pork are fantastic! The chicken is great, but because everything is fed corn it looks yellow and that’s a bit of a turn off for me.

Still though, back in Canada this time of year produce is terrible so I’m thankful to be able to eat well when I’m here.

Of course, I smoke and drink beer so that probably doesn’t help the old taste buds at all either.

Tecate

eta, I miss real cheddar cheese. The stuff here is mild, or comes from the states and just isn’t right….

(02-05-2026, 07:16 PM)Tecate Wrote: eta, I miss real cheddar cheese. The stuff here is mild, or comes from the states and just isn’t right….

I notice that to me - there is no "Extra Sharp" anymore... it's all bland or stinky wax. /sarc

I do miss cheddar as it was...

before it became "all about profiteering."

(02-05-2026, 08:41 PM)Maxmars Wrote: I notice that to me - there is no "Extra Sharp" anymore... it's all bland or stinky wax. /sarc

I do miss cheddar as it was...

before it became "all about profiteering."

Here is an article about full fat cheese and  full fat dairy, and it's relationship to dementia.  Opposite of what they have believed previously, it actually lowers the risk in some people.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20...030540.htm


It does not mention real butter, but that may be because they did not include it in the study.

These days they make most cheeses out of milk with little fat in them here, some more expensive companies do make them out of whole milk though.  The ones with more fat seem to taste better...but it is hard to know if it is the extra fat or if it is the recipe and microbes they use that causes the difference.  Many cheeses just use enzymes and not microbes to do the job.

(02-05-2026, 12:48 PM)Maxmars Wrote: I had set up a cockamamie theory in my head... but suddenly... me hitting the 60 year threshold makes it appear weak...

I spent a great time in my youth in - gastronomically speaking - heaven... for my tastes.

It included the likes of leaning out my door and reaching a great huge avocado, or a giant grapefruit.  An almond tree (very old) in the front yard... Mangoes were enormous... it was ... nice.

As I understand my youthful taste-buds were to account for the enjoyment I got there and then..

But now - I look at fruit and produce - and I want to weep.

Anemic samples of fruit pick before ripe and subjected to ethylene to "induce" ripening... leaving a small rock-like fruit object... which over-ripens in three days... never achieving anything like "flavorful' status.

Citrus today would never have been sold in groceries stores... only used for frozen concentrate.

I recall distinctly that Florida oranges weren't just bigger... the flavor was distinct and sharply robust as well as sweet.

Ever notice how much our orange juice tastes like "rind?"

That's not supposed to be part of the flavor profile... or at least it didn't used to be.

Better, worse? Does it matter?

Maybe it's better that as we get older, out taste buds become less reactive to some flavors... for some obtuse scientific reason...

Still... It has long seemed less "flavorful" as we went all-in on industrial synthetic "quasi-food" commerce.

Don't even think about peaches.
Eating a fresh ripe peach straight from the orchard is like living in a different world. A world where the butterflies and unicorns dance around you and the bluebirds land on your shoulders and sing.

Eating a grocery store peach is like attempting suicide.

Harte