Why do some flavors go together and others do not?

[Perfection]

I mean chocolate is good, ketchup is good, but why is ketchup on chocolate not so good?

 

[Genocidicbunny]

I would have to say association based on where the flavors are located on your taste buds. The chemical relations between the two flavors might also play a role. And it could also just be personal preference. In reality, I truly dont have a clue besides what I've said above.
Tis an interesting question you've posed Perf

 

[Solver]

Because they cancel each other out . Taste is perceived through five basic tastes. Chocolate is sweetness. Ketchup is, I guess, sourness. When you combine two things which each have one powerful taste, they cancel each other out, mostly, and do not taste like anything, or do not taste pleasant.

That, and different areas of the tongue are differently sensitive to the tastes...

 

[Lambert Simnel]

Because God made it so.

 

[Perfection]

Because they cancel each other out . Taste is perceived through five basic tastes. Chocolate is sweetness. Ketchup is, I guess, sourness. When you combine two things which each have one powerful taste, they cancel each other out, mostly, and do not taste like anything, or do not taste pleasant.

I'm not so sure of that, I mean then why do I like lemonade, margaritas, and atomic warheads?

 

[ShannonCT]

I mean chocolate is good, ketchup is good, but why is ketchup on chocolate not so good?

Ketchup sucks, so I'll reframe your question: Chocolate is good, and mustard is good. Why is mustard on chocolate not good?

I would say that a big part of what we think tastes good or bad is random and culturally conditioned. Maybe chocolate and mustard would catch on if some famous chef started peddling it to food snobs.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Personal preference? Ive seen some people like combinations of flavors that I would and do find utterly disguisting

 

[Perfection]

I would have to say association based on where the flavors are located on your taste buds.

I dunno, I think it's more complex then that

The chemical relations between the two flavors might also play a role.

But what reaction would ketchup have with chocolate?

And it could also just be personal preference.

That's a definite factor, but what is its mechanisms here and limits?

And how does society effect it?

 

[Solver]

I'm not so sure of that, I mean then why do I like lemonade, margaritas, and atomic warheads?

Not sure I'm following you. Lemonade, for example, is mostly sweet. It does/can have mixed tastes, but lemonade, like many other drinks, has been artificially created - clearly, the makers mix the proportions in such a way for the tastes not to cancel themselves out. It's known that food manufacturers can also create tasteless food, obviously it's not what you usually want for commercial applications.

And what do atomic warheads taste like?

 

[Lambert Simnel]

I'm not so sure of that, I mean then why do I like lemonade, margaritas, and atomic warheads?

Proper lemonade can be excellent, but a genuine margerita, made from fresh limes, decent tequila and triple sec, is almost beyond mankind's ability to describe in suitable terms of worship and adoration.

Atomic Warheads ? I guess you really mean Atomic Kitten, and that's probably just a phase, Perf. You'll grow out of it.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Atomic warheads are a cinnamon type candy, they kinda burn the tongue, but are also sweet at the same time

 

[bhsup]

Just to really screw things up, why do pregnant women seem to enjoy combinations that sane people would gag on? Wouldn't surprise me if chocolate and ketchup sounds good to a pregnant lady.

 

[Sidhe]

Because of the way we evolved, certain flavour combinations work and tell us that a food is good, others tell us that a food may be bad or not so good, since most of our edible food fits into very neat categories of what is good we have learnt to favour those tastes, some foods are dissimilar from our evolutionary cues to "what is good food" therefore they taste bad. However with diligence and patience we can aquire a taste for foods that turn us off. Of course children and adults have a different palate that favours food that is good for a child to grow over what is good for an adult but this is a seperate issue.

 

[Perfection]

Not sure I'm following you. Lemonade, for example, is mostly sweet. It does/can have mixed tastes, but lemonade, like many other drinks, has been artificially created - clearly, the makers mix the proportions in such a way for the tastes not to cancel themselves out. It's known that food manufacturers can also create tasteless food, obviously it's not what you usually want for commercial applications.

This seems contradictory of my experience with lemonade. I like making lemonade, and it seems to me that no matter how little or much sugar is in there it still tastes pretty good and the flavors never seem to "cancel out".

BTW, the best lemonade is pretty sour IMO, it shoud make you pucker a bit.

 

[potatokiosk]

Taste buds don't deserve the attention they get. I think it has more to do with how your brain responds to certain smells. Different brain chemistry means different taste in food.

 

[Perfection]

Taste buds don't deserve the attention they get. I think it has more to do with how your brain responds to certain smells. Different brain chemistry means different taste in food.

And don't forget the texture, that's a very important componant too. Culinary experience is very complex, and it baffles the hell out of me.

 

[Abaddon]

Perf... if you dont care the sugar content.. id suggest those parts of your tognue are weak!

 

[Solver]

This seems contradictory of my experience with lemonade. I like making lemonade, and it seems to me that no matter how little or much sugar is in there it still tastes pretty good and the flavors never seem to "cancel out".

BTW, the best lemonade is pretty sour IMO, it shoud make you pucker a bit.

Lemons aren't very sout - 5% citric acid in lemon juice. So (this is a theory and I'm conjuring things up), 5% acid isn't enough to cancel out any flavour really.

Then again, looking it up, most ketchups have several tastes, some stimulating all five taste buds. By that logic, ketchup shouldn't cancel out anything, but it sure isn't good with chocolate.

Or maybe we're all wrong and ketchup with chocolate is great, how many people here really tried that ?

 

[Perfection]

Perf... if you dont care the sugar content.. id suggest those parts of your tognue are weak!

I do care, it's just that unless it's mind-bogglingly sickeningly sweet I'd probably like it. There are certainly ratios I like more, but I can't say I don't like any particular one.

Lemons aren't very sout

Yes there are. To be perfectly frank it sounds like you're talking out your tuchus here.

 

[Psyringe]

My guess is that it's just habituation. You're just not used to ketchup on chocolate. Have a child, feed it with ketchuped chocolate once it's old enough to value tastes different from "sweet" (infants have a preference for sweet), and then ask it why it doesn't taste well. It might just answer "But it does!" and ask for the next bar.

I mean, there are people eating dry seaweed, minced meat, or sauerkraut. Based on that observation, I wouldn't rule out that people would like ketchuped chocolate as well if they are raised with it.

Another possibility is that there was an evolutional advantage to dislike certain tastes, or combinations of tastes. But I'm not so sure about that, post-hoc evolutional arguments are always easy to find, but hard to actually prove.

And my third guess is that, although the tastes don't cancel each other out, there's something similar happening: Say, you like ketchup because its sweetness. You don't especially like the the taste of tomatos. Now if you eat ketchup together with chocolate, the sweetness from the chocolate (which is sweeter than the ketchup) desensitizes your taste buds for the more subtle swetness of the ketchup. Because of this, the ketchup now tastes much more like "tomato", and less sweet, and you may not like that.