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Curious Cases

The Dreadful Vegetable

Curious Cases

BBC

Science

4.84.1K Ratings

🗓️ 22 December 2017

⏱️ 30 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

"Why don't children like vegetables?" asks Penny Young from Croydon, and every parent ever.

This week Rutherford and Fry dig into the science of taste and discover that there may be more to this question than meets the eye.

Children and adults have a different taste experience when they eat the same foods. When you're young, foods can taste saltier and more bitter. What's more, as Jackie Blisset, Professor of Childhood Eating Behaviour explains, there are even evolutionary reasons why toddlers avoid vegetables.

For most children it's a phase, but a minority of adults are also labelled as fussy eaters. According to food psychologist Linda Bartoshuk, they are probably what's known as 'supertasters'.

Supertasters live in a neon taste world where vegetables are more bitter, and chillies are unbearably hot.

Adam sets out on a quest to find potential supertasters in the Radio 4 offices. First stop, the Today programme where Nick Robinson and Sarah Montague become his experimental guinea pigs, with surprising results.

Send your questions for consideration to: curiouscases@bbc.co.uk

Presenters: Hannah Fry, Adam Rutherford Producer: Michelle Martin.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

MUSIC

0:06.0

I'm Dr Adam Rutherford.

0:07.3

And I'm Dr Hannah Fry.

0:08.6

And you are going to send us your everyday mysteries.

0:11.5

And we are going to investigate them.

0:13.5

Using the power of science.

0:15.7

Science.

0:17.2

I like it.

0:18.2

MUSIC

0:21.3

HAPPY CRITEMAS

0:23.6

Happy Christmas, everyone.

0:24.9

That was our Christmas horn thingies.

0:26.7

We did have an extra one from Michelle.

0:28.4

Give us a quick tut.

0:31.0

Much better.

0:31.6

See, that's why she is the professional in this triumvirate.

0:34.2

You're quite right.

0:35.1

Welcome to the Christmas podcast of Curious Cases,

0:37.7

which may of course be slightly confusing

0:40.0

if you're almost certainly not listening

0:41.8

to this at Christmas time.

0:43.1

Or in January, as I imagine, many of you will.

...

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