question Thee 2 Af vegetables didn’t agree with you when you were a child, you may be interested 4 hear that scientists have come up with' an explanation. pporeni chien tase bids, the smal points on the tongue it detect the taste of fod, are no rend fr biter-asting vegetales. Oar taste buds develop as we get oles but young mouths prefrfaed that has a sweet taste Infact, most af ustend! iolike sweet-tasting fe andthere's a good reason for The st humans ate ‘sve rl because of the enery iigave their bis COurineestors aso foun out that plants wit biter taste were oflen poisonous and earat te avoid them. sperienee, therefore, fas (aught us that sweet things aro usually nie, but tbat we have tobe earful with food Una tastes bitter © Apart feonmbitter and sine ue taste buds ean only ‘recopalze three more tastes salty, sour and “uaa (a pleasant savoury taste) However. we alo eat ‘wilh our noses! Our noses cna pik oul’ as many a 10,000 different smells ad's the aromatic Smell [rom cooking that often give usan appetite. Have you ever noticed that cooked food doesn't have ‘as muich favour when it becomes cold? When the smells Irom cooking disappear, so does same of the taste.You can doa simple experiment to test this. Close your eyes and pinch your nose between sour PEEPIET TERE Phrcnal verve Paras verb are eonon n a Staves eon oneness {Sine ps doves Dek otk meogree eo one word ayn re fn more fra fingers. Then ask someone to puta piece foot ln youtemouth andy to emit, Without any sell tohelp ou, you'll ind it very dificult to work out ‘what you' ee eating Rood aso has be slightly wet fo ito be tasty. When, swesmell food, our mouths produce salva and when ‘wee i the salva ransportsisMla.our to our taste buds. Without saliva, some uncooked food would have nnotustet al. Ifyou dry our tongue with acto fandthen put some food oni, you'll ind it doesn Ihave much favour: Fortunately que mouths produce ‘enough saliva evry yeu to lla ath, so yur unlikely ever to Bd ating tasteless! Of enurse, while humans are alike in mans ways. cur tastes can vary wid. dish that one person finds fagrant and delicious might seem sliny and revelting toanoiher. What's more our astesenntioue to ‘evolve throughout our lives, Why? Selentsts have put lopward various explanations some biological, like anes or gender, and olbers psychological, suck ascultureand past experiences Itseems obvious ‘enough that wemight develop fondness or eispy duck on atrip wo China, or an aversion 1 seafood ater ‘bad oyster Bul of course, weeannot know for sure which or how many af these fators are responsible for our preferences a any onetime. Sometimes. asthe saying es. there's just no accounting for taste ar * come up with ~suanesttinkof trices) + fing out—alscover 4 pick out rocoarc,enwly 7 language. Ato)Read the Exam strategy box. Then read the article quickly and match topics 1-5 with paragraphs A-E. 1 Tastes vary and evolve. 2 Wet food has more flavour. 3 There's a reason why children often dislike vegetables 4 People prefer sweet food, 5. Smell is important when we eat. (DRED Read the article again. Are these sentences true or false? Find evidence in the article to support your answers. 1 When we'te older, our taste buds are prepared for different tastes. 2 Our ancestors’ experiences have taught us that plants don't give us energy. 3 Our noses can detect up to 1,000 different cooking smells. 4 Oursense of smell helps us identify subtle flavours. 5. A liquid is produced in our mouths when we smell food. 6 It isn't always possible to explain why we like ar dislike certain foods Answer the questions in your own words. e 1. Why do children often dislike vegetables? 2 How did we learn that sweet food is often better than bitter food? 3 How does the taste of food get to our taste buds? 4 What are four reasons why people might have different food preferences? Find words and phrases in the article that mean: e 1 relatives who lived a long time before you (paragraph B) 2 causing death ot illness if you eat oF drink it (paragraph B) 3 taste (of food or drink) (paragraph C) 4 hold tightly between your thumb and first finger (paragraph ©) 5 a little (paragraph D) it’s impossible to explain why people like certain things (paragraph E)