I’ll be the first to admit that I have a slight obsession with food and the thought of Masterchef Australia being back on TV makes my loins tingle. Good food makes me happy and apparently, it makes judge Matt Preston even happier. If you’ve never seen the show before, the guy has about seven double chins, which is probably some sort of consequence from years of over-indulging on cake and chocolate. Let’s assume for the moment that Matt Preston did get fat from cake and chocolate and not from, say, greasy chips and burgers. Because thats a nice segway for me to mention that WE LOVE SWEET FOOD!
The tongue, the most sensual part of your body, has five taste buds: sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami (kinda meaty taste). Sweet foods are the most loved because we have this natural lust for them. Those five food senses are the body’s way of recognising what foods are healthy and what foods are potentially toxic. In the days before Coles and Woolworths, when we couldn’t just buy food and instead had to like forage and shit, we had to rely on our taste buds to determine which foods were safe to eat. Is that berry edible? Or will it give me the trots? Sweet foods generally indicated non-trotty food, while bitter foods almost certainly gave the runs. For this reason, we all have a pre-disposed want for sweet foods. You only have to look at the fat, screaming child at any supermarket that points and yells for a Mars Bar for further proof.
It’s also the reason why we have acquired tastes. Liking bitter things like coffee and wine is developed as we get older. We realise that they’re actually safe and contain amazing things like caffeine and alcohol. We begin to appreciate them for their other flavours and textures instead of that initial bitterness.
Matt Preston has clearly chosen to embrace all aspects of sugary lust and maybe I should too. I mean, Matt Preston gorges cake and Masterchef is popular. So maybe if I start obsessively eating cake, The Other Side of Science will be popular too!
Good idea? Let me know by leaving a comment below. Or, if you’ve got anything else to say or ask, I’d love to hear it too.
I have a theory that when my body is short of a vitamin, I get a semi-conscious craving for a food that is high in that vitamin. My best example is Peanuts when I am short of Protein, which is most of the time cause I’m a lazy vegetarian. Thoughts?
Firstly, protein is not a vitamin but close! Secondly, I think its been largely disputed that we crave foods for their nutritional value. Rather we crave them because they make us happy. Sometimes when we eat fatty or sugary food, our brain buzzes with awesome feelings. I guess peanuts are kinda oily so maybe you just really like peanuts?
GOOD QUESTION!!!
They’re are quite high in fats, Saturated Fat 12.5g, Monounsaturated Fat 37.4g, Polyunsaturated Fat 22.0g (all per 144g serving). Maybe that’s why I like them so much.
I seem to recollect that peanuts actually contain a chemical that was mildly addictive, similar to the ones in cheese. Stimulates your opiod system or something
I think that because they are fatty they release opioids (think opium) in the bloodstream which give that ‘Yeah thats good’ feeling. Whereas cheese has a compound within it that is similar to morphine, similarly giving that ‘Yeah’ feeling. But both Fatty foods and cheese do stimulate the same ‘Yeah receptors’ in your brain that make you happy and therefore, begin to crave it
I remember reading somewhere about how we like eating potato chips because the high carbo content reminds us of our childhood.
Potato chip addiction anyone?
Mayo Carrot Cake for the win…. beware though, once addicted, you find yourself going to Uni in the holidays simply because you struggle to go two weeks without it. It’s nice to now know I can blame the evolutionary pressure of having to choose ‘safe’ foods for all my cravings though!
Wow, well seen! So you found yourself at uni these holidays more often than expected then?
I am pretty fond of the chips, despite them making my throat close up and me gasp for air. What’s with that?
Yes! Mayo carrot cake is awesome! I believe that sugar is the only thing we are born craving – so it’s only natural to want another bit, even in the holidays!
First Post…
If Matt Preston has 7 double chins does that mean he has 14 chins?
Indeed it does. 14 and counting. Next year he’ll have 16 and the extra two will be composed of 60% gelatin.