Understanding the Origin of Flavor Preferences

Food traditions mirror a people’s beliefs and values and are among the last characteristic of a culture that is lost during the immigration of an individual or group into a new culture (Rozin, 1996). However, the origins of preferences and aversions for flavors and food in humans have elicited much speculation but, until recently, remarkably little experimental investigation (Ganchrow and Mennella, 2003). We now know that initial experiences with flavors occur prior to birth when the flavor of amniotic fluid changes as a function of the mothers’ dietary choices (Mennella et al., 1995). Some of these same flavors continue to be experienced in mother’s milk (Mennella and Beauchamp, 1991). Because early flavor experiences have been shown to enhance acceptance and enjoyment of foods during weaning and childhood (Mennella et al., 2001), culturally determined flavor preferences, one of the most enduring characteristic of an ethnic group, can be understood in the context of early flavor exposure.