Why do Certain People Like Bland Food?

[naut]

Personally I hate bland food. If it is bland and flavourless I will not eat it. I will take a mouthful, turn my nose up and walk away. Food must be rich, vibrant, flavoursome and satisfying. Bland food is the devil in mouthful. Give me chilis, or give me death.

You?

[CountArach]

My girlfriend is one of these people. It makes no sense to me - why would you not want to eat something that actually excites your tastebuds?

[caravel]

I think it depends on the food. For example a good potato (almost impossible to get on this side of the Atlantic) tastes good just boiled, whereas a not so good potato tastes good made into chips. The same goes for meat, if you're having to heavily season to appreciate the flavour, then it's obviously not good meat.

[naut]

I think it depends on the food. For example a good potato (almost impossible to get on this side of the Atlantic) tastes good just boiled, whereas a not so good potato tastes good made into chips. The same goes for meat, if you're having to heavily season to appreciate the flavour, then it's obviously not good meat.

Then, is it not, in and of itself, flavoursome?

[caravel]

My definition of bland food may differ to yours, but to me it's usually boiled or maybe roasted or fried without much in the way of seasoning - what some might call "simple fare"? For example even if a boiled chicken may be flavoursome, without seasoning it would still be defined as "bland"? Thus in my opinion bland food can still be as good as well seasoned food.

To me unappealing food is dull lifeless, overcooked, (frozen) vegetables, dried out overcooked (frozen) meat/fish. The blandness is not so much of a factor, the quality of the ingredients and mode of preparation is. My point is that the blandness can be overcome if the quality of the ingredients is there, if it's not then more seasoning is needed... but that still cannot turn bad produce into good produce, it merely masks it somewhat.

As to your question, some people cannot deal with strong flavours and spices, because they're simply not used to them. A lot of eating is an acquired taste. I pretty much eat everything so I don't fully understand why certain people refuse to eat certain things, often based on a certain bad experience years in the past...

[Hosakawa Tito]

Some people eat bland food out of necessity due to digestive problems. An old highschool friend never had a sense of smell, so for him, eating was just a biological function and taste really didn't enter into the equation. They eat to live. Me, I live to eat, and ummm drink.

[Rhyfelwyr]

I'm a creature of habit and eat the exact same thing nearly every day, all of it as bland as could be. Bran cereal, dry brown bread etc.

I don't even know why I do this, I used to have bad OCD that gave me a very routined life and I just don't know how to change it.

And I still get down at least 4,500 calories a day.

I win!

[Tuuvi]

A lot of the time I'm not even capable of eating bland food. Like when we're eating roast for dinner and it's been overcooked so its really dry and flavorless, I have to pour tons of salt on it, and if that's still not good enough it takes me 5 minutes to chew each bite and after a while I just give up.

[Fragony]

Define bland, get hardcore Dutch calvinist cuisine at 'chez grannie', and it's absolutely devine, I'll take it over anything fancy.

[Sarmatian]

There is no accounting for taste. I married my first wife purely on account of her not liking Onions, since the idea of spending a life-time with someone who likes Onions is just horrifying to me.

It's impossible to prepare good food with no onions. Scientific fact, my gringo friend.

[a completely inoffensive name]

Because sometimes, I'm hungry but have things to do and I don't want to waste an extra 30 minutes sitting there with a big smile on my face like an *** because I am savoring every bite.

[stratigos vasilios]

I have to during my cutting periods. Eating tuna 6 times a day isn't too fun!

[Vladimir]

Because they're English. Next question.

[Ishmael]

I have an uncommon food intolerance which means I can't eat most sauces, meaning many of my meals would be considered 'bland' by others. That said, I find that less complex meals without too many conflicting flavours helps you to savour each ingredient. I think it would be a crime to have good meat in a stir-fry or something, only to overpower its taste with dozens of spices and whatnot. Then again, I love eating plain rice by itself, so maybe I just have strange tastes.

[Ibrahim]

well, as long as it ain't eggplants, or anything not allowed by religion, I don't really care. As I'm no allergic to any food I know of, that means virtually any food, even the most bland.

that is b/c as far as I am concerned, food is food. it's good for stuffing your belly with

(of course, if it is badly done, the food item will not be consumed, since often times that won't be healthy-too much grease or other noxious things).

[phonicsmonkey]

On Onions: I too believed that it was impossible to cook without them and when my wife was diagnosed with an onion intolerance I fell into a deep funk thinking my life would forever be the poorer for it. However I have learned to cook without them or to cook in such a way that the pieces are large and can be avoided in the final dish and I have to say that my curries, stir fries and sauces are none the worse off.

However when she is out and I am preparing dinner for myself alone I binge on them - take one large brown onion and slice finely, cook on the lowest of heats in good olive oil until caramelised, add several (and I mean several) good quality anchovies and allow them to disintegrate. Add cooked bigolo or spaghetti and toss until coated.

Heaven.

EDIT: especially with a generous glass of fine white wine.

[caravel]

but Onions? Bleah!

well, as long as it ain't eggplants,

Onions and Aubergines - food of the gods.

I prefer red onion myself however.

[Brennus]

Having grown up in Manchester, a city with a wide variety of culinary traditions from various peoples from the Commonwealth and Europe, and then moved to Belfast, a city which has very small non-Irish population, I have experience of this. In Belfast most of the traditional food tends to be rather bland by the standards I grew up with and many of the local population tends to balk at the prospect of trying more exotic food (I work with a girl who described humous as "Ughhhhh" and said processed single slices of cheese were the best type you can get... yes my French neighbours I share your horror). I would say some peoples' preference for bland food is therefore caused by a fear of the unknown, an unwillingness to leave the re-assuring territory of the food they grew up with.

[Justiciar]

Many people don't enjoy food. They only eat out of necessity or habit. Which is fair enough.

[Martok]

Being from the Upper Midwest (and Minnesota in particular), I'm of largely Scandinavian stock. As such, I'm genetically predisposed to liking bland food; I can't help myself!

[Tellos Athenaios]

Being from the Upper Midwest (and Minnesota in particular), I'm of largely Scandinavian stock. As such, I'm genetically predisposed to liking bland food; I can't help myself!

No that's not quite right. After all, your heritage is of perfecting food as a weapon to such an extent that opening tins of it on airplanes is expressly prohibited...

[Fragony]

No that's not quite right. After all, your heritage is of perfecting food as a weapon to such an extent that opening tins of it on airplanes is expressly prohibited...

You do know that we are also guilty, it's basicly like our national treasure: a salted herring. And it's delicious on dark bread with some pickles. Yes the smell is bad, but did you ever smell their cheese (which I also love). Yay for canned herring. And viking cheese. And smoked salt

[Martok]

No that's not quite right. After all, your heritage is of perfecting food as a weapon to such an extent that opening tins of it on airplanes is expressly prohibited...

Fun little story:


My father is a senior salesman for a large U.S. food corporation, and one of his customers was Mike's Fish & Seafood out of Glenwood, MN, a small town that's roughly a 45-minute drive northwest of where I grew up. Mike's business boasts the (perhaps dubious!) distinction of having produced -- among other things -- the majority of all the lutefisk consumed in North America for the last 20-30 years. (Given that Minnesota boasts more folks of Norwegian descent other than Norway itself, business was usually booming for him during the holidays!)

As a boy, I would sometimes accompany my father on his daily trips to visit his customers. Depending on the situation, I might go into the various businesses with my dad while he spoke with the customer; at other times, I would wait in the car outside and read a book. However, I had always -- without exception -- waited outside whenever my father stopped by and saw Mike. In addition, it was nearly always our last stop of the day before heading home. It wasn't until (a rather memorable day) when I was around 12 or 13 that I discovered why!

Because it was on that day, for the first time, I actually "got" to go inside Mike's fish processing center, which I'd never done before. (I don't remember if it was my father's idea or my own, but either way I was excited! Oh, how foolish & ignorant I was...) Well let me tell you, the smell almost literally knocked me off my feet; I believe I actually swayed at first, like I was going to faint. Worse, my father and I both reeked of fish (especially lutefisk) the rest of the day. Not only did we have to shower when we got home (because we could smell it in the car the entire way back), but my mom immediately ran our dirty clothes through the washing machine as well...twice. And despite washing both our bodies and our clothes, I swear I could still smell it on me for the next couple days after that. Gah!


I can laugh about that day now, of course, but at the time I was absolutely convinced I was going to die an old man, still smelling of lutefisk! That odor just didn't want to come out...

[Ibrahim]

Onions and Aubergines - food of the gods.

I prefer red onion myself however.

anyone who says that about eggplants should be burned at the stake as an obvious witch and Satan worshiper

[Prince Cobra]

Well, I admit I enjoy eating chicken for the mere taste of the flesh. No salt, no spaces, just the oven baked (by myself) chicken taste makes me happy. Well, with beans and peas it is a little bit more different. However, most vegetables are preferred also fresh and without spices. Don't ask me to explain that. I can not

[Craterus]

Because drinking a cup of water after every bite is a nuisance, never mind the sweating and generally feeling uncomfortable.

I don't understand why spicy food fans claim this superiority. People have different tastebuds, why expect/hassle them to eat food they don't enjoy? If enjoyment is the name of the game, leave them to it, they know their sensations better than you do.

[Fragony]

Because drinking a cup of water after every bite is a nuisance, never mind the sweating and generally feeling uncomfortable.

I don't understand why spicy food fans claim this superiority.

Bit of an aquired taste for me, I'm now used to it. Nothing tastes better then a vindalo or Indoneian rice table. I do have my limits though, a real Surinam roti has these marry jeanette peppers, that's too much I can't taste anything

[DawnCunningham]

I think many people who prefer it have just got used to it as they cannot eat spicy or even salty food because they have to keep to a certain diet. When they have to cook the same diet food for years, they get accustomed to it, and it doesn't seem blank to them, and they often manage to find possible ways of cooking it with no salt or pepper or sauce so that it still remains tasty.

[Beskar]

Because drinking a cup of water after every bite is a nuisance, never mind the sweating and generally feeling uncomfortable.

I don't understand why spicy food fans claim this superiority. People have different tastebuds, why expect/hassle them to eat food they don't enjoy? If enjoyment is the name of the game, leave them to it, they know their sensations better than you do.

You don't use water. You use milk or cream, as this kills the aftertaste and makes it "less spicy". Water merely washes down any excess substance in your mouth down your throat, but the sensation still lingers.