Interesting list but not sure what to make of the word "important" here. Important to whom? The cucumber recipe that was all the rage in 2024 was something even I became aware of earlier in the year - without ever having seen the video or having a TikTok account. Suddenly everyone I ever talked to about food was talking about this cucumber salad. Each person had their own take on it but the foundation was this salad. Garam Masala is featured gets on the list in 1973 thanks to Madhur Jaffery.
Presumably that was year when Indian food found its place in the world. Reading through the list got me thinking about each person's list of top twenty five foods at various stages of their life. There would be a time when they would not even be able to come up with five lacking age and experience. Hopefully there is also that other point in life where twenty five seems incredibly small to cover the full list of loves. Some items would stay in the list forever others could come and go. It sounds like closer to end of life, the list would shrink again. I remember my grandfather in his final years craved raw ginger, bitter-gourd and neem. Nothing else seemed to register for him anymore.
Besides this continuous learning process, our tastes may shift as we get older due to changes in our ability to taste and smell. In youth, taste bud cells regenerate every week or so, but with age, this regeneration process drastically slows, according to NPR. And around middle age, in our 40s and 50s, the total number of taste buds in our mouths begins to decline and the remaining taste receptors become less sensitive, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Comments