Original version

BBC World Service East Asia

CrowdScience

Documentaries

Factual: Science & Nature

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

Answering your questions about life, Earth and the universe

We take your questions about life, Earth and the universe to researchers hunting for answers at the frontiers of knowledge.

CS-Taste_Getty513242960.jpg

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

CrowdScience: Why Don’t We All Like The Same Food?

Why Don’t We All Like The Same Food?

04/05/2018 GMT

BBC World Service - CrowdScience, Why Don’t We All Like The Same Food?

How does biology and culture shape what’s delicious and disgusting?

Humans can eat pretty much anything – but the reality is we don’t. CrowdScience discovers how biology and culture shape our culinary tastes.

Humans have the potential to eat pretty much anything – but the reality is we don’t. Wherever we live in the world, we eat just a small fraction of the foodstuffs available and show strong preferences for certain foods over others. Those preferences can change dramatically from person to person, or as the saying goes – one man’s meat is another man’s poison. Then at the extreme end of the spectrum you get so-called ‘fussy eaters’ who reject so many foods that they are confined to beige diets of crisps, crackers and cereal. 

So why do we show such different preferences for food? And why are some people fussier than others? That’s what CrowdScience listeners Orante Andrijauskaite in Germany and Anna Nicolaou in Belgium would like to know, and what Datshiane Navanayagam is off to find out. 

She discovers how both biology and culture shape whether a food is disgusting or delicious and learns why we should stop giving children a hard time about finishing their dinner. She also learns how global cuisines evolved and what that can teach us about helping fussy eaters to overcome their food fears.

Presenter: Datshiane Navanayagam	
Producer: Anna Lacey

(Photo: Fried Bugs in Bangkok night market. Credit: Getty Images)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

CrowdScience

Why Don’t We All Like The Same Food?

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service East Asia

About BBC World Service