That said, I agree with you wholeheartedly that children probably do gravitate to such flavors because they do have greater nutritional needs. And perhaps I like beets more and french fries less because of my age and changing nutritional needs. I wonder what the spectrum of changing tastes is, as clearly not everyone loses that desire for high sugar/fat/salt, and I certainly have my moments (where only a milkshake and onion rings will do), so it would be interesting to look at the array of receptors in different peoples’ palates…..

And perhaps even more amusing – the things we lose a taste for seem more often to be the things that are bad for us (extra sugary, extra salty, fast food, etc), and the things we gain seem to be more healthful.

But it totally makes sense if you consider that young children need proportionally more sugar and fat than adults, relative to their body mass. Cholesterol is a brain-building material, my kids need quite a bit, me, not so much.

Stuff I used to love as a child (the fat from steaks, yum) now tastes… pretty disgusting after the first bite or two. My four year old (who looks like a string bean) will gobble it up.

One a related note… I shudder when I see ads pushing foods full of artificial sweeteners to the preschooler crowd as “healthy” choices.

Our Critter is relatively flexible and we encourage that by offering some of whatever we’re eating. If ze doesn’t like it, then it’s a laid-back comment of “OK, more for us.” And we try it on zir again the next time. Farmers’ Markets are great because of all the different foods cut up for sampling. At the Critter’s mealtime we’ll set out three or four foods current favorites, plus a past favorite or something new; whatever ze finishes we set out more of. It’s our version of “you pick, I choose” that gives us over-all control over what the Critter eats but ze gets choice as well. The hard part is making sure ze doesn’t substitute milk for all solids – all milk and no food makes Critter an unhealthy toddler.