Bumble Bee Tuna

How exactly does taste work? I've never known.
More importantly, though, how did taste evolve? It seems that healthy foods taste bad and unhealthy foods taste good. Why is that? It seems to be a problem for both evolution and creation from an uneducated perspective. For evolution, it would seem that it would be beneficial for healthy things to taste good. For creation, why the hell would God make bad things taste good? That's always been one of my reasons for not believing in God, after all- I'm a picky eater and there just seems to be no good reason why I hate the uber-healthy class of foods known as vegetables. But then I was thinking it didn't much make sense for evolution either, so I'm curious as to how that could have happened.

-B

Ab_Normal

Disclaimer: This is a completely uneducated opinion from a computer programmer.

Assuming by "bad foods" you mean the sugary, fatty stuff we're told will kill us dead, they're bad for us now because (in First World countries) we can get as much of them as we crave. Since First World lifestyles are overwhemingly sedentary, we end up consuming more calories than we burn, and *bam* here comes obesity. But back on the savannah, sweet and fatty foods were a great source of calories, and a better return on the time and energy required to find them and/or kill them than green leafy stuff. So our ancestors who preferred these foodstuffs (because they liked the taste more) would have a better chance of surviving to reproduce.

As always, everyone feel free to clarify and correct. Thanks!

MortalWombat

I think that most of what people call "healthy" foods are considered to be beneficial for living longer lives, but are not necessary for living long enough to reproduce. Think about one of the major "unhealthy" things in our diet: meat. Perhaps a high meat diet is not optimal for long life, but it is optimal as a ready source of protein and easily digestible when you're living on the savannah. Once you're past child-bearing age, it doesn't matter much evolutionarily if your arteries are clogged with cholesterol, but it might have allowed you to reach child-bearing age with strong bones and muscles in the first place.

Bumble Bee Tuna

Ah yes. You guys make perfect sense. I'm still curious as to how taste actually works, though. I suppose I can find that out on my own though.

-B

Mad Kally

There are 4 sections of taste buds on your tongue. Sweet, salty, sour, and bitter.

Doubting Didymus

Essentially, there are receptors in the toungue that respond to the prescence of certain chemicals. When stimulated, they send electrical impulses to the brain, which are translated into a sensation. You'll have to go into the actual biology of the various cells if you need more detail.

Coragyps

Five, as it turns out. Monosodium glutamate (MSG in your soy sauce) has its own receptors. Umami might be the proper Japanese name for it. (?)

And BBT - I read somewhere the other day that about 25% of men (my elder son is one) have particularly acute response to bitter tastes, so many vegetables are just too nasty to eat for them - the cabbage family in particular.

Doubting Didymus

Are those exclusively stimulated by MSG?

How do they deal with beer?

Coragyps

Probably not exclusively - I don't really know. I'll bet that aspartate and other close relatives of glutamate work on them too.
My son won't touch beer. MY OWN SON, DAMMIT! MAMA, WHERE DID WE GO WRONG!!!???


edited to add
http://www.nature.com/nsu/020218/020218-21.html

Mad Kally

What is the Nature Publishing Group? (Pardon my ignorance)

Kally