Taste (or more formally, gustation) is a form of direct chemoreception and is one of the traditional five senses. It refers to the ability to detect the flavor of substances such as food and poisons. In humans and many other vertebrate animals the sense of taste partners with the less direct sense of smell, in the brain's perception of flavor. Classical taste sensations include sweet, salty, sour, and bitter.  Most chilli fruits are sour by taste.

Some people relish the kind of sour candy that makes your face crinkle up and suck itself down your throat and out your rectum.  Personally I shiver at the mere thought of it.  I find the taste of sugar too overwhelming in most candy bars available in stores, like Snickers, Lion and Mars bars.  Some people cannot get enough of them.    Preferences are so varied.   But why do they vary so?

Once at the dinner table when I was a child, around five, my six year older brother exclaimed "eww, peas, I don't like those!"  Naturally, I echoed it word for word and have since that day not found myself able to enjoy a heap of peas.  Before that day, I ate them with gusto, but never once since.  My dislike for peas was not a natural thing caused by the development of my tastebuds or sudden inability to appreciate their texture, it was merely an adopted preference caused by the adoration of my elder brother and my wish to be like him.  

The natural tendency of children is to conform and adapt to it's environment, this is how they learn.  They mimic the behavior of other people and in so doing, they gradually learn speach, and in time, they gain a better understanding of the world around them.  They observe their environment and learn how to behave.  As children grow older, they often seek to be just like their peers.  They often insist on dressing the same and can sometimes be overtly obsessed with "fitting in".  This is natural, it is not only part of how we learn from each other, but also part of our survival instincts.  A good example is the odd colored hen that will be pecked to death by its peers, because it didn't "fit in".  Likewise children will often be bullied or excluded, if they don't fit in.  To some extent, this can often influence their likes and dislikes, just like I stopped liking peas when my bother for no apparent reason exlaimed he no longer liked them.    

Everyone knows that excessive amounts of sugar is unhealthy and often downright perilous to our health.  It can lead to numerous afflictions, such as diabetes, which if you dear reader didn't know, can actually be fatal!  The overconsumption of sugar in today's western cultures are hazardous to say the least.  A vast majority of the western population is overweight if not outright obese.  More people are diagnosed with diabetes and there are more and more extreme cases where people are so overweight, it becomes a handicap, not only to them, but to the rest of society.

How often are children not rewarded with sweets?  How often do we not hear parents say "if you behave you will get sweets", or "if you misbehave, there will be no sweets for you!".  The chemical properties of sugar are well known and although sugar is highly addictive; a baby is just as likely to ransack the kitchen and end up stuffing it's wee little face with a jar of your favorite expensive imported java beans as a pound of sugar.  Babies have no concept of sweets or treats.  They know only urges, frustration and satisfaction.  Hunger being one of the most basic ones, which is in most cases first satiated with their mother's milk.  But somewhere along the way, they learn that sugar products are a treat.  Why is it a treat?  Because we only allow them to eat it every now and then.  Therefore it becomes something special, out of the ordinary, reserved only for special occations.  And because it tastes good, it becomes a valuable commodity, that children want and we only give them rarely, which puts us in a position of power.  The power to give them something they want only when we allow them to have it.  Parents quickly learn that they can control their children's behavior with this commodity.  With a crude combination of pleas and threats, either begging their children to behave and promising treats in return, or threatening them into submission, by saying they will not get any treats if they don't stop misbehaving.  Thereby, indirectly reinforcing the idea that sweets are indead a treat.  Sugar becomes a comodity in a role play between the child and the parent(s).  A currency, if you will.  And because it becomes so special, children will want more of it. 

But what would happen, if a child was subjected from birth to the same thing, except having the candybar replaced with a carrot?  Saying, "if you behave, you will get a carrot" or "if you don't stop this at once, you will not get any carrots!"  The child would pick up on carrot being a treat, that much is certain.  What if you said to a child, "eww, candy, that's so gross and unhealthy!"  Would the child, like I did when I was younger with the peas, suddenly stop liking candy?  If the child is young enough, most likely.

Why do we then insist on teaching our children that overdosing on sugar is something they should aspire for, instead of say, a carrot?

The fact aside that this is very poor parenting and by no means a substitute for teaching children respect, discipline and proper moral values; noone can deny that for its own purpouse, it is highly efficient.  Parents gain some measure of control over the behavior of their children.  The side effect being that they constantly have to keep it up, they become stuck in the role play, using sugar as a comodity.  When the children then grow up, they no longer have their parent(s) there to control their behavior with coercions of treats.  They acquire the means to procure it themselves.  And when they then venture into the world, they do so with a weakened moral foundation and lacking discipline and respect.  If children are instead instilled with a strong moral foundation and taught discipline, respect and responsibility; they will know right from wrong and there will be no need to control them, only guide them.

A child that knows right from wrong will do wrong only if it lacks discipline and respect.  The human mind weights and measures decisions by effort, reward and consequence, impeded or coerced by respect and the sense of moral values.  When contemplating doing something good or neccessary, the mind may consider the reward minimal, but will be coerced by discipline and respect to act.  When contemplating doing something wrong, the human mind will weight and measure the reward versus the risk and consequences of getting caught.  If it deems the reward higher than the risk of getting caught, or consequence of getting caught, then the only thing standing in its way is its respect and sense of moral values, in psychology this is called the superego (simplified; refer to wikipedia if you wish a complete and extensive article on the superego).

Why then, is it so hard to instead of controlling children with coercion, teach them how to behave from the start?  Because it takes time and because it must be reinforced by example.  We tell our children to go to bed at eight, yet we stay awake until midnight.  We tell our children they cannot smoke, they cannot drink alcohol, yet we do it ourselves.   We do not lead by example.  Therefore we are forced to threaten them into submission, controlling their behavior.  Because we can't have them behaving as we ourselves do, can we?  Smoking, drinking and staying up until midnight.  And who has time nowadays to spend almost all their time with their children, teaching them and guiding them, when we are tired from work or busy with friends or sorting out the bills.   It's just so convenient to just place them infront of the TV and let the rest of world tend to them...

Take care my friends, when undertaking the greatest responsibility known to our species, parenting is by no means an easy task.

Fashion has brought many things, some great, some not.  Like MTV; a channel where the music is secondary and if not for all the free pornagraphy on the internet, would be the prime source of wanking meterial for sexually frustrated teenagers.  Sometimes I wonder why they don't just strip down and "get it over with".  For me, men's fashion took a much appreciated turn though, from the seventies to modern day.  I wouldn't say I idolized the flaired hippy jeans or the hockey haircut.  I am a big fan of short and tousled out-of-the-bed haircuts, picture Ben Affleck and Brad Pitt.  I feel secure enough within my sexuality to admit that Ben Affleck is a very handsome and attractive man and I would be lying if I said I wouldn't want to nick of with his looks. However, the practicality of it aside, it is just the right way for me to rebel.  The chaotic nature of it simply appeals to me the same way I refuse to wear same colored socks.

But why oh why did hats ever go out of fashion?  Call me an old fashioned, modern bohemian if you will, but I mourn the lack of appreciation of a proper headwear!  Maybe I am only being nostalgic.  Even today, hats come in every size and shape, and are more extravagant and ludicrous than the next, but it's just not the same!  Imagine the turn of the century, the pipe hats.  Now those were dignified!  Anyone wearing such a hat today would be held to ridicule.  Even half way between then and now, we saw bowler hats around every corner.  I see all those sephia toned photographs of stern looking men with their hats and furry sideburns staring at me and I cannot but feel a twinge of respect mingled with jealousy.  Today, even a more trendy swashbuckler hat, fully complemented with kakhis, would be frowned upon if not used in the proper scene; out in the wilds where noone can see.  The image if Indiana Jones, is simply out of date.

Although I try to accept my lot in life and realize I can no more stand in the way of change than a cricket can stop a speeding train, I lament the loss and I'm determined to rebel!  I will make a point this winter, to shield my naked brain case from the elements with a proper headwear and not just a €10 stitched cap from the local gas station!  I will make it my mission to buy a proper ushanka!  

Beware yea philistines, here I cometh!