I've heard that as we age, our tastebuds loose some sensitivity, thus the increased desire for stronger flavors. Perhaps this is why older family members' recipes might taste over seasoned.
Mine haven't changed much yet, but I may answer differently in a year or so.
Jo

Yes I do see this with myself...I am not much of a dessert type person but lately...oh about the past few years I have been craving cakes and sweets. I really don't mind spicy but anymore if its too spicy I will not eat it.

When I was pregnant I dispised onions, Just to see one in the store would give me that queasy feeling. I LOVE them now tho!!

Cheers!
Susie

I dunno...my 89 yo DM has always had very bland tastes and very limited. I had to educate myself to enjoy regional, ethnic and foreign foods after I left home.

There are a few things that I have always said I didn't like that I at least try to eat now. Mustard for example.

Nancy

Yes, I've experienced some of that. I no longer care a bit for ice cream. It just tastes sweet and greasy to me. As I have embraced lower fat, low salt cooking anything fried has an unpleasant mouth feel and anything very salty is far TOO salty, including lunch meat, Parmesan cheese, pizza, and prepared foods. I never could stand lima beans. I agree, it's a texture thing.

I think some of the stronger tasting type foods (cheeses and such) take a little getting used to, so you may, more or less, aquire a taste for them throughout the years, and also be open to eating and trying more foods during middle age. But, I actually find older people (as in over 65) tend to like less spiced more bland type foods. Think of how bland some of the cafeteria foods are that the older generation seem to dine at.

Funny how some have mentioned pregnancy. I was turned off to fast food with my first pregnany and haven't really liked it or craved it since. I guesss that's a good thing! I also didn't like yogurt or ice cream before I was pregnant, but I craved them when I was pregnant and I still like them now.

I think some of our food preferences are probably based on nutritionally changing needs too.

Once your body gets used to eating sweets, you're going crave them. With one of my pregnancies I had gestational diabetes and cut out most sweets; after a while I couldn't believe how much I didn't crave anything sweet. I could easily pass on choc. cake, etc. but once I started eating sweets again, the cravings came back. Same with soda.

Having been a vegetarian for 30 years, I definitely have lost my appetite for beef. Although I do occasionally eat some other types of meat, especially fish, I cannot stomach beef. I think it is because it is an incredibly dense rich food source, so if I eat it, it just kind of sits in my stomach, plus when you don't eat it for a long, long while, and then you do, you become aware of the kind of "aged" quality (read the start of the decay process) and the fat content in the taste and texture. Not trying to gross anyone out, I never noticed these things when I ate it as a kid. A couple of years ago I went to a fancy function at work and they served steak with lobster sauce. I do like lobster, but I had to struggle to eat my dinner, which is kind of funny since to a meat eater that meal would have been the height of luxury. To me it was gagging.

Sweets are definitely an addiction. I never had much of a sweet tooth, but now I live such a high stress lifestyle I am really struggling with a sweet/carb monkey on my back. Still, after all these years of cutting back, high fat foods are just too rich for my taste. It's part mouth feel, and part stomach feel.

I learned to like blue cheeses. I'm still most comfortable with European and S. American type foods, even though I have tried to develop a taste for Asian and Indian. I like Middle Eastern but that's about as far east as I can get. I like the other stuff, but don't love it. With a few exceptions, such as stir fry with rice, lo mien and egg rolls, and some curries. I went on an Indian kick a couple of months ago, and found myself craving an Italian pasta meal! Again, I have a serious cheese addiction which I have heard is possible since apparently cheese has some type of addictive chemical in it.

Once you start eating your own home canned products, it's hard to go back to the store bought stuff. That becomes a big part of the canning addiction.

I used to drink tea black, but after traveling to Great Britain, I now drink it with milk almost exclusively. I developed a cappuccino addiction in Germany of all places. They serve it in pubs and beer gardens, and since I am allergic to beer, that's what I ordered. Not that's another $eriou$ problem for me, lol!

I learned to like yogurt and tomatoes as a teen, being very hungry and finding them in the fridge. Both are kind of tangy and I think they were too much for my younger palate. Otherwise, I've always liked pretty much everything. My problem is wishing I could develop a DISLIKE for all the bad things I am addicted to, lol!

I think about this a lot and often wonder if it's a natural thing or the way I've chosen to eat that has changed my tastes. When I was 20, I started the long process of learning how to live without processed and store bought foods that are laden with other "stuff". It took a few years, but I got there and now, thankfully, there are lots of organic and natural things to buy.

I'm 39 now and I, too, like stronger breads and cheeses. I used to love tuna salad and salmon patties, now I can't stand either one. They are both so fishy now and I don't remember them being that way. The tuna dislike started a couple of years ago. Broccoli was the first green vegetable that I fell in love with at age 12, now I've just gotten to not like it too much. It's ok drowned in cheese sauce, but I used to adore it.

Up until about age 20 I really liked sweets. After cutting out all the store bought foods (not just sweets - they put corn syrup in everything) my craving for sugar plummeted and I still don't care for many sweet things. I had a room mate at age 23 who loved to bake and after we both moved on to other cities I found I had some sugar cravings for a few months. I really do believe that sugar is addictive!

I grew up with a cajun mother. My father's mother lived next door and she was from Georgia. I'm sure you can imagine the type of foods I was used to - rich, fattening, spicy and complex, depending on whether it was deep southern or cajun. Anyway, at 16 I moved to Norway and lived with a Norwegian family for a year. Talk about a palate change! That experience turned me into a foody because it got me out of my little, safe comfort zone. In fact, I was forced out of it. Norwegian food isn't known for being the best but there were a few things I came to love. Two things I didn't have for an entire year were chicken and beef. When I came back the first thing I wanted was a steak. Then roast, etc. Ugh, it took me a whole year to get to where I could eat beef without feeling bad. It was exactly like lpink said. It felt like it was just sitting in my stomach and not digesting. But, I'm back to eating beef again. No problems now.

I used to love pork chops, but they are starting to have an off taste to me now. Almost gamey. I used to detest fat of any kind on meat. Now I love it. I also love chicken skin now and I used to hate it so much that I would pick all the breading off of fried chicken, remove the skin, then dip the chicken meat into the cooked breading!

I quit smoking about 10 years ago and my tastes changed radically during that time. I only quit for 6 months then started up again. I'm in the process of quitting right now so I'm sure I'll be changing again. Last time I was practically a vegetarian because I couldn't stand the taste of meat (not even gravy!) nor the smell of it either. Raw or cooked. Strange.

The first thing that came to mind was Brie. For years I could not understand why people loved it. Now that I am trying to eat healthy and keep my daily calorie count down, I love Brie.

I've always had a sweet tooth, but that has changed. Many things I liked taste cloyingly sweet to me these days. I made a pear/apple/cranberry crisp from one of Ina Garten's books for company last week. Everyone loved it, but I found it too sweet. I'd reduce the sugar by, at least, a third if I make it again. These days I hate sugar masking the flavor of the fruit in desserts. Many times I would prefer just the fruit. That's a change from my younger days!

After tasting fine dark chocolate I do not even want to waste calories on candy bars I used to crave.....well, maybe a Reese's.......

Most sushi is made without nori - only the rolls are nori-bound.

I've lost all taste for greens and most veggies for the last year maybe. I have to force myself to eat them.

It's true that your taste buds change over time. However, part of your change in taste is simply the maturing of taste which occurs in any field. You put away childish things, as it were. You might think some pop star is a great guitarist until you listen to Django Reinhardt.

When I was a young man I listened to twiddly Mozart pieces and sipped oh-so-delicate white wine. Thirty years later I sip not-so-smooth Armagnac and listen to Janacek's 'Glagolitic Mass' with the stereo at full blast. I honestly don't know if that is progress or dissolution, but I do know it's different.

One item I cannot stomach any more is milk chocolate, or at least the mass produced 'Easter Bunny' sugary cr*p. If I eat chocolate at all, it's dark bittersweet stuff and I have been known in a moment of weakness to eat the unsweetened baker's chocolate.

I used to hate fresh basil, now I can't get enough of it. Not sure what changed, it's not like you can cook it a different way and make fresh basil taste any different hahahah!

I used to love liverwurst sandwiches. Now no can do.

I am 56 and in my 30's I really liked spicy foods like Indian, Thai and Mexican. I still like the taste but my digestive system can't take it. I really pay for it later.

I prefer salty foods over sweet. I will take homemade whole grain bread with butter over cake with frosting. I like rich dark coffee, strong red wines, and high cocoa(70%) dark chocolate now. I never liked sushi but am starting to develop a taste for it. I wouldn't go out of my way for it, but if offered would eat it. Before, I wouldn't have even touched the stuff.

I am another one who can't stand lima beans and it is the texture. Never developed a taste for okra either. Also a texture thing, too slimy.
Clare

I think it's much more fun to eat now that I'm older. I like the taste of so many more foods and flavors than I did when I was younger (i.e. bleu cheeses, eggplant) that it makes cooking lots more interesting.

I like flavorful food (ie spicy) and always have, but as I have gotten older, I've developed an appreciation for creamy and more bland things, also. (I've also put on about 10 lbs that I don't need.)

I'm thankful my dh enjoys trying different foods and combination of foods. My mom's husband is so picky, that it's not so much fun for her to cook any more.