By Dr. Anthony Policastro Food likes and dislikes vary by individual. There was an old commercial that went: “Everybody doesn’t like some things, but nobody doesn’t like Sara Lee.” It is not likely that the commercial was 100 percent true. Individual food likes and dislikes are a combination of many factors. Some of that is genetic. Our genetic makeup helps determine how we perceive flavors. For some people, bitter flavoring is stronger than for others. People have genetically different senses of smell. That is an important part of food tasting. Evolution has provided genes that prefer sweet and salty. That is likely because toxic substances killed off the people with genes who would eat them regardless of taste. A big part of what people eat is related to their cultural background. We learn what to eat as members of a family. For that reason, most family members have similar likes or dislikes. Sometimes, a negative experience with a particular food may make us not want to eat that food again. That is true even if the culprit in the negative experience was not the food itself. Exposure plays a big role. The more we eat a food, the [...]