How Taste Buds Change

Back in my days as a prisoner, I would sit in my cell bored out of my mind. I would stare at the stationary clock, watching it tick at the pace of a tortoise. While the big hand points to 2, that little hand needed to point to 1 so that I could leave the stale, lifeless building. The murmurs I heard every day ended at that time as well. The last statement of the day was as clear as crystal. “I will see you tomorrow morning,” the prison guard would say to the 30+ children in the cell. There had to be at least 500 kids in the entire prison, along with a handful of ugly brick buildings.

The bell rings to leave. The guard let us out of the room. “Finally,” whispered a peer, “class is over.” The 30 of us left our cell to be picked up to go to our respective homes. An exception to this was me. My first destination after prison was a large 7-11 style bakery. I scanned the spacious store, seeing countless confectioneries across the aisles. At the end of my stay at the store, the cashier rings my treat. I then eat it as soon as I get back in the car. By now, you may be thinking, what was the treat? It was none other than a Hostess apple pie. I ate this fruit pie every day for a year or two after escaping the prison yard. It was so yummy.

Indeed, that pie, which is similar to the one served by McDonald’s, was tasty. It was my midday delight. However, upon biting into the pie crust over a decade later, I discovered something. The pie was okay, but not like I remembered. Most accurately, I’d say it tastes “too strong.” I wouldn’t say it’s too sweet like the birthday cake golden Oreos per se. Nor would I say the pie is “too rich,” since “rich” implies “favorable.” Now, I can eat the Hostess treat once in a teal moon but will get sick of eating it more than two days in a row.

Why don’t I enjoy the pie as much as I did years ago? Perhaps the recipe changed along with those of other food items; perhaps not. For this question, I’ll stick to Occam’s Razor, which states that the simplest answer to a dilemma is often the correct one. I’ll chalk it up to a change in taste buds. The apple pie is not the only food I’ve changed my opinion on. At first, I liked milk chocolate Hershey’s bars over dark chocolate bars; now the reverse is true. I also used to eat bologna sandwiches with Oscar Meyer’s pork bologna. Since I switched to beef bologna, pork bologna is now off-putting. The same is true for hot dogs. I like beef hot dogs better than regular hot dogs now.

After reading these antidotes, one may begin to wonder why the taste buds of a single individual change. Most children hate eating vegetables, yet many adults find the plants tasty. From research, the most sensible reason is that humans lose taste buds as they get older. Each taste bud has many cells on its surface. Some of these can detect sweetness, bitterness, sourness, saltiness, or meatiness. Many people believe that the tongue has distinct sections for each type of taste. This is false. Any large part of the tongue can sense all five taste types.

Since I’ve been alive for decades now, I currently have less taste buds than I had when I was born. The proportion of each type of taste cell likely changed in the process of me losing taste buds. That’s the most plausible reason I can think of for not caring much for the pie anymore. No matter. As you know, fruit pies aren’t the only treat sold by Hostess. I’m sure you’re aware of the classics sold by the company – cupcakes, Twinkies, Zingers, etc. My favorite is the glazed honey bun. It’s like a glazed donut, but with cinnamon and bigger.