I Really Hate That Broccoli

My older sis loves broccoli,

but it tastes really gross to me.

I take one bite and start to chew,

then spit it out before I’m through.

Mom says it shouldn’t be that tough,

but I know when I’ve had enough.

Please, Dr. Jo, how can it be

that other folks like broccoli?

Tell Mom it’s genes that are to blame

for why our tastes are not the same.

Because of genes, some folks have lots

of bitter taste receptor spots,

and it sounds like you’re among

those with a bitter-sensing tongue.

But your big sister has so few,

she doesn’t taste the way you do.

Another food she’d like, no doubt,

could be a big fat Brussels sprout;

or cabbage, turnips, olives, too.

But these foods might taste sharp to you.

Here’s one more option to consider

if you find these veggies bitter:

Roasting sweetens foods a bit.

Or honey might just do the trick.

COOL FACTS ABOUT TASTE

• Some prey animals store bitter compounds in their bodies that make them taste disgusting to predators. For example, Australian cane toads make many different bitter poisons on the skin that covers their backs.
  
  These poisons keep animals like black snakes from eating them. But the kite, a hawklike predatory bird, has a way around this. When a kite catches a cane toad, it just flips the amphibian over and eats its fill right from the belly.

• Monarch butterflies not only use bitter compounds to avoid getting eaten—they advertise their poison! The colorful butterflies eat milkweed plants when they are larvae. These plants contain a bitter chemical that is poisonous to predators but not to the larvae.

The monarch larvae keep the poison in their tissues as they grow, so they become bitter-tasting adults. Adult monarchs advertise their poisons with their bright orange-and-black wings, and most hungry birds stay far away.

• Some people think the herb cilantro tastes like soap! Cilantro, which is commonly used in Mexican and Indian foods, is delicious to many people. But it turns out that certain genes that affect how we smell may also affect our liking of cilantro. Research shows that around one in ten people have the “I hate cilantro” gene.

• You may hate broccoli now but learn to love it when you get older. It’s not unusual for the kinds of foods kids like to change when they become adults. At least one reason for this is that children are more sensitive to tastes, especially bitter ones, when they are young. So broccoli that tastes very bitter to you now could taste much less bitter when you are older.