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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Cross cultural dislikes - (off-topic)

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  • From: "William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Cross cultural dislikes - (off-topic)
  • Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2009 08:32:09 -0500


When travelling through the pacific islands I discovered that they treat spam
and similar salted and tinned pork meat products with an almost religious
reverence. As their economies were based around pig I can understand why. But
this is interesting as it points to both genetic AND cultural factors that
place a food in the esteem of its people.


Hmm,... I can see how this points to cultural factors, but not genetic, necessarily. Of course, even people in the same culture have different likes and dislikes in food, to some extent. And some of that could be genetic, but maybe not directly (if you're a "picky eater," you might dislike certain foods because of other factors than taste). Or it could be developmental, not genetic, factors that determine our individual food preferences.

Note that people who sell fruit have to be concerned about MUCH more than good taste. In fact, taste might be quite far down the list of desirable qualities when selling fruit, below such things as appearance and texture, as well as shipping and storing quality.


In Australia, we have an appalling product called corned beef. It is a
heavily salted roast that you boil, primarily to remove the salt and thereby
make it edible.


OK, I know this is really getting off-topic, but I had to comment, because I LOVE corned beef! Salt and fat - both of the really critical food groups in one delicious whole! How could you not like it? It's almost as good as bacon. :-)

And you don't have to boil it (certainly not to remove the salt). Oven-roasting is best, IMHO.

I've got to say that I've had so much fruit this year - and vegetables, to a lesser extent - that salty beef or pork really, really sounds good. When I go to a restaurant these days, I try to order something that doesn't have a single fruit or vegetable in it! Heh, heh. I love fruit, and I love sweets, but a constant diet of sweet fruit makes me crave something different.

Ah, if only bacon grew on trees...

:-)

Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)

--
It is clearly too soon to know for sure. But the evidence is now pointing pretty strongly in one direction: history books may conclude that the financial crisis of 2008 turned out to be far less bad than it could have been and that Washington deserved much of the credit. - David Leonhardt




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