Looking past the recent vegan drama, have you ever wondered why your pet might not like particular foods? Have you ever actually tasted the food yourself?

I have, and some taste more like a chemistry lab than actual nutrition.

  • @tom_was_takenEnglish
    10•4 months ago

    Exactly. We like sweet things as this is our way to detect glucose for our brain; salty things for minerals, etc. Our pets diets are different, so are their taste preferences. Iirc, a totally blunt piece of dried food tastes great for a cat, since they seek protein more than anything.

    • OtterEnglish
      4•4 months ago

      Yup, cats can’t taste sweetness for that reason, while birds don’t have receptors for spice and can eat chillies easily.

      That’s just the taste buds themselves, additionally:

      • A large part of our taste response is tied to smell. This is why food tastes different when sick. It’s also hard to try yourself because you can “smell” through the back of your throat too
      • the air around us will affect taste perception, which is why some foods taste better or worse on a plane
      • genetic factors exist, such as how some people taste cilantro/parsley as soapy
      • @[email protected]
        4•4 months ago

        I have the cilantro soap gene. Never heard of the taste of parsley being affected the same way.

      • @[email protected]English
        2•4 months ago

        That’s why hospital food seemed so next level bland, everything smelled like “clean.”