No, not “Taste”, as in the title of this section – but “taste” as in “preference”.

What got me thinking along these lines was the Three Cheese Tart that I made for dinner last night.

It was fairly unassuming, involving Ricotta, Maasdam and Cheddar cheese, all bound together with eggs and cream and flavoured with leeks and tarragon. It smelled wonderful when it was cooking (well, baking cheese – doesn’t it always?) and looked very promising when baked.

I served it with a mixed salad, involving rocket leaves, celery, cucumber, cherry tomatoes and a finely sliced nectarine, along with some marinated beetroot, for added zing.

It garnered three very different reactions from the family. Hubby didn’t like the texture of the filling and felt that the tarragon was too strong. Our son felt it didn’t have enough flavour and would have preferred some bacon in it, or more leeks. I thought it was fabulous just the way it was!

How curious, that we should all have had such different reactions.

Hubby’s dislike of the texture isn’t altogether surprising as the texture was fairly “foamy” from the use of Ricotta. However, as the tart was billed as having a “cheesecake” sort of texture, I had thought it would pass muster – as cheesecake is one of hubby’s favourite things.

The tarragon was right up there in the flavour profile and, ordinarily, he approves of the aniseed flavour. Not in this tart, however.

Our son’s opinion that the tart required bacon was easily explained if you know what a carnivore he is. To be faced with a meal completely devoid of meat, was something of a shock to the system, I think. Add to that our accepted opinion that everything is made better with bacon – and you can understand why he chose bacon as his preferred addition.

I was surprised at how strongly the tarragon came over in the flavour profile and I will admit that it took a couple of goes before I got used to it and began to like it. However, I loved the texture and didn’t, as so often happens, find myself feeling bilious before the end of the piece. It is often the way that the tart fillings that hubby enjoys the most are the ones that leave me feeling bilious.

There are, of course, foods and dishes that the entire family love and result in clean plates all round. But it just goes to show what a lottery this cooking malarkey can be. Even though, as the family’s cook, you take into account everyone’s likes and dislikes when planning a meal, you just can’t legislate for individual taste.

What makes us particular about our food? What makes hubby (for instance) truly dislike the flavour of potatoes, yet our son and myself consider potato to be a staple?

What is it in our son, that makes him dislike cooked tomatoes? He’ll happily devour fresh cherry tomatoes by the handful – but if he finds one in his Spaghetti Bolognese, it gets hooked out and stays on the side of the plate.

Then there’s me – who can and will eat just about everything. At one time, I couldn’t (digestively) cope with onions – right up until I was pregnant. Prior to being pregnant, I hated the smell of fish and rarely ate any that wasn’t in batter. What was it about being pregnant that flicked a switch somewhere inside me and enabled me to eat onions without anything untoward occurring – and made me crave fish?

I do think that there’s a lot of learned responses with regard to food – such as our son’s liking for coffee flavoured chocolate. This follows on from both hubby’s and my own liking for the same thing. However, we both also like cooked tomato – so that’s where the argument for learned responses falls down.

Then there’s a subconscious reaction to a foodstuff – such as our son’s abhorrence towards cooked mushrooms. To him, they both look and feel (on the tongue) like a slug would feel on the tongue (so far as I know, he’s never tried a slug on his tongue).

Surely that’s just a self-preservation thing, a subconscious need to not take in anything that might make you ill. Perhaps, as adults, we’ve been able to get over that subconscious impulse and the knowledge of how yummy a mushroom can be, has won the battle.

I blame the brain. There’s so much we don’t understand about how our brains work – and taste is just one of the tips of the very many icebergs involved.

So do you have a peculiar like or dislike with regard to food? Do share!

Now, I’ve got this Celeriac, Potato and Bacon Gratin for dinner tonight. How do you reckon that’s going to go down with everyone? It’s got bacon, but it’s also got potato – I don’t mind telling you, I’m nervous!