It’s to do with the number of taste buds on an individual’s tongue, and the type of taste buds.
My father loved Brussels sprouts, and spinach and silverbeet, but hated cauliflower.
I flat-out adore cauliflower, and and love spinach and silverbeet, but cannot abide Brussels sprouts, no matter how fresh or how prepared. They were used in a top chef’s purée, and I didn’t know that they were an ingredient; I tried the purée and detected an odd taste. To me it tasted sort-of smoky, dark, “off”, with an undertone of bitterness. I felt embarrassed in not liking that element, especially as I was being treated. I tried another spoonful – same thing. It was not appealing to me, but I still didn’t identify what it was. Everything else in that dish was gorgeous, so I just left the purée. The chef came out and chatted with us for a while, and while I was praising the dish, I said something about the “interesting” dark smoky taste if the purée – and that’s when I was told what it was! I realised immediately with a retrospective identification that yes, that odd taste WAS Brussels sprout, and I was going to metaphorically thump my friend for ordering it for me while full-well knowing of my revulsion for it!
