Food Taste

[Michael G.]

How much has your taste for food diminished?

We go out to eat once or twice a month, (wife is a awesome cook), but lately the taste
of food in any restaurant taste bland to us.

Are more meals reheated in a microwave?
Does freezing food loose it's taste?

Notice, I didn't mention meal prices, which we'll save for another day.

Cheers!

[JSR22]

How much has your taste for food diminished?

We go out to eat once or twice a month, (wife is a awesome cook), but lately the taste
of food in any restaurant taste bland to us.

Are more meals reheated in a microwave?
Does freezing food loose it's taste?

Notice, I didn't mention meal prices, which we'll save for another day.

Cheers!

We eat out dinner out 2 to3 times a week and I attend luncheons 2 to 3 times per week. We tend to eat dinner at BlueFin, Chop, Harvest, Havana, Lopez and Mezza Luna. Once a month Stirrup's, IMO the best rest in Central FL at the World Equestrian Center. I am always pleased with the meals.
Lunches include the above restaurants plus Prima, Evans Prairie, Belle Glade and Sammy's. I am happy with all of them.

[Stu from NYC]

Go out a couple of times a week for dinner and regularly for breakfast and lunch and like the restaurants we go too.

[JP]

Old age

[Mrprez]

Did you have Covid? Loss of taste is a by product.

[RICH1]

We eat out dinner out 2 to3 times a week and I attend luncheons 2 to 3 times per week. We tend to eat dinner at BlueFin, Chop, Harvest, Havana, Lopez and Mezza Luna. Once a month Stirrup's, IMO the best rest in Central FL at the World Equestrian Center. I am always pleased with the meals.
Lunches include the above restaurants plus Prima, Evans Prairie, Belle Glade and Sammy's. I am happy with all of them.
We could be friends

[JSR22]

We could be friends

You like the same restaurants?

[RICH1]

You like the same restaurants?
Yes, we visit many of the same places..so many eateries so little time… we explore as we travel the state ( we discovered a laundromat in Gulfport that has a wine & cheese party on Wednesdays)

[JSR22]

Yes, we visit many of the same places..so many eateries so little time… we explore as we travel the state ( we discovered a laundromat in Gulfport that has a wine & cheese party on Wednesdays)
Sounds like fun!

[vintageogauge]

Okay. I'll be the first to answer your opening question. Yes, my taste has diminished, over the last several years I have found myself spicing up just about everything.

[davem4616]

Some of it certainly is due to us getting older and our taste buds changing

the wines I liked in my 20s and 30's I can't drink now

some of it also has to do with the way food is grown now....I read an article years ago that the bio-engineering of how cattle, chickens, hogs, turkeys etc. were being raised, and the new feed they were now given was bulking the animal up faster, and they were coming to market quicker, but the down side was that it had dramatically changed the taste/flavor of the foods

IMO, organic and free range is tastier than what these big producers like Tyson and others in the industry are putting out there...now I'm not suggesting that the inspectors aren't doing their job...it's a different product now

heck you don't have to look any further than the difference between a home grown back yard tomato and one of those tasteless store bought one...

farm fresh eggs beat the taste of store bought any day....as would meat from a locally grown/butchered steer, if put up against a similar cut at Publix...farm raised fish isn't as tasty as wild caught

One summer the camp that I was a counselor at had a farm...most of what we ate came from their farm....dairy, beef, chickens and a huge garden....wow, what flavor

Restaurants will always try to buy the best ingredients that they can....but they operate on a slim margin, and...the raw material they need has changed...

[Bay Kid]

Always take a couple bites before adding salt. Your taste buds will wake up.

[Michael G.]

Always take a couple bites before adding salt. Your taste buds will wake up.

Salt?
Buy Sam's Club chicken for a great price of $4.99 and you don't to add salt.

Unfortunately I have a son and daughter-in-law that always salts everything
before even tasting the food.
I use to be the same way in my younger days and now my wife doesn't
put the salt shaker on the dinner table.

[MDLNB]

Had a slight case of covid and ever since, my taste is corrupted. Anything with tomato sauce tastes terrible. My favorite food, pizza is no longer on my menu due to it's new taste. BUT, sweets taste terrific! Hopefully, this too will pass and I can return to my normal tastes. Don't know what I would do if pizza was totally eliminated from my diet. Go out to eat? Why bother when eating out is no better than eating at home?

[MrFlorida]

We go out at least twice a week, nothing has changed, my waistline proves it....

[Luggage]

As several people have said taste does change with age. Best discussed with your doctor but I have read that lack of certain vitamins maybe one of the causes, zinc if I remember correctly is one thing and you may just want to start taking a multivitamin. Other people have said covid does affect your taste for some strange reason, and also depression does affect your taste in some people. But again you should definitely mention it to your doctor as it could be a symptom of other things or just you need more seasoning in your food now because your taste have just changed

[Two Bills]

Yes, we visit many of the same places..so many eateries so little time… we explore as we travel the state ( we discovered a laundromat in Gulfport that has a wine & cheese party on Wednesdays)

Wine, Washing and Stilton!
Sounds great.

[JanetMM]

How much has your taste for food diminished?

We go out to eat once or twice a month, (wife is a awesome cook), but lately the taste
of food in any restaurant taste bland to us.

Are more meals reheated in a microwave?
Does freezing food loose it's taste?

Notice, I didn't mention meal prices, which we'll save for another day.

Cheers!

Taste buds “die off”. The last to go are for sweet. Also, perhaps an unknown mild case of Covid earlier.

[dtennent]

Both my wife and I love to cook and find that many of the restaurants serve food that is on the bland side. Having grown up in household with an early heart disease researcher, the salt shaker on the table was for guests and not for the family. As a result, we cook with a minimum of salt and with a variety of herbs and spices. So our flavor wheel is different than what is served in many of the restaurants in this area.

[toeser]

"How much has your taste for food diminished?"

Not one bit. I don't ever expect to get that old.

My wife is a great cook and we very rarely eat out.

[toeser]

Always take a couple bites before adding salt. Your taste buds will wake up.

I have not picked up a salt shaker in decades. It would not even occur to me to add salt to something. I do have great taste buds and a good sense of smell, maybe that's why I don't need it.

[PugMom]

How much has your taste for food diminished?

We go out to eat once or twice a month, (wife is a awesome cook), but lately the taste
of food in any restaurant taste bland to us.

Are more meals reheated in a microwave?
Does freezing food loose it's taste?

Notice, I didn't mention meal prices, which we'll save for another day.

Cheers!

good thread, i find most of the food tastes the same, no mater where we eat. it's like 1 mass food distributor supplying food for all the restaurants- a lot of pre-cooked, esp. chicken

[Blackbird45]

My taste buds are fine, but you're not the first person I've heard who's taste buds started changing with age. Many people who age start consuming more and more sweets, not great for the health. Your first stop should be your doctor, they'll most likely put you on a diet of truly tasteless food since they are focused on your health. The next stop the internet, you'll learn how to take what the doctor recommends and spice it up to what you might enjoy.
I'm so tired of people telling me their tofu taste just like a steak.

[MandoMan]

How much has your taste for food diminished?

We go out to eat once or twice a month, (wife is a awesome cook), but lately the taste
of food in any restaurant taste bland to us.

Are more meals reheated in a microwave?
Does freezing food loose it's taste?

Notice, I didn't mention meal prices, which we'll save for another day.

Cheers!

Try the Amrit Palace in Ocala on College. Excellent Indian food, and they will make it as hot as you like it. I highly recommend the appetizer called Samosa Chaat, which is a number of samosas cut in half with a delicious chick pea sauce on top. Big serving. I also recommend their lamb curry and their bhindi (small okra in a spicy sauce). Their tamarind margarita is surprising and well worth a try. It’s a pretty long drive, but your taste buds might be pleased.

[chuckpedrey]

Well documented side effect of the virus and possibly from the jab as well

[ithos]

Loss of taste and smell: Natural with aging? - Mayo Clinic (https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/healthy-aging/expert-answers/loss-of-taste-and-smell/faq-20058455)

Some loss of taste and smell is natural with aging, especially after age 60. But other factors can contribute to loss of taste and smell:

Nasal and sinus problems, such as allergies, sinusitis or nasal polyps
Viral infections, including the common cold and the flu
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Certain medications, including beta blockers and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors
Dental problems
Cigarette smoking
Head or facial injury
Diseases that affect the central nervous system, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease

[fmeans]

You may simply be losing your sense of taste. My dear, old (95) father has; as did his sister.

[Chi-Town]

When I first moved here I noticed that a lot of the restaurants are not very adventurous in assaulting your taste buds. Especially Chinese, Thai, Mexican, and to some degree Italian. It may be by design to accommodate the masses and our aging digestive systems, or the chefs are not on the creative side.

So for me my sense of taste is about the same; I still have to request authentic or spicy here but not so much outside of the compound (far outside).

[Two Bills]

I prefer lightly spiced food.
Never understood how people enjoy a 'blow your head off' curry
It just overwhelms the actual meat and veg, and in many restaurants is a cover for second rate ingredients.
JMO.

[jimjamuser]

Had a slight case of covid and ever since, my taste is corrupted. Anything with tomato sauce tastes terrible. My favorite food, pizza is no longer on my menu due to it's new taste. BUT, sweets taste terrific! Hopefully, this too will pass and I can return to my normal tastes. Don't know what I would do if pizza was totally eliminated from my diet. Go out to eat? Why bother when eating out is no better than eating at home?
I agree with the "eating out is no better than eating at home". And likely worse in many cases. Not worth the time and money. As to taste and CV. There is some recent research about long-term CV that might be interesting. There is some not-so-good news in there.

[La lamy]

I usually eat at home, but in the past weeks have been to restaurants and found different seasonings from various establishments we went to. Lots of bland food as you said, but the Chateaubriand at Lopez was AMAZING!!

[Blackbird45]

I'm a New York City food snob.
I like going to the restaurants in the Villages for the social aspect, but there are very few places here that I would consider great as far as food.
I believe most of the places make most of their profit on alcohol and that is what they are focused on.
You don't have to be a chef to make a meal at home that is better than what you can get outside.

[MartinSE]

If it happened "suddenly" it could be a symptom of long haul COVID. Even a mild case that you might not have thought was COVID can result in some loss of smell and/or taste.

More likely it is a sign of aging and environmental as some have said. if you smoked or worked around smokers, that can cause it. etc.

[Janet1946]

You might have nasal polyps— I lost all sense of smell and food tasted very bland. Easily removed by an ENT.