Why do so many of us enjoy the taste of fats in food?

Question

Fried food is always so appetising but why do we enjoy our crisps, nuts, bacon, chips etc so much? Is it part of our biological programme?

Answer 1

I agree with Martin above. If you go back in time to when humans were hunter / scavengers, food was scare and fatty foods provided the energy that humans needed to get us through the lean periods. Humans therefore have a biological preference for fatty food over non fatty foods. It is a survival mechanism. If we didn't have it, then by saying, "no I won't eat that fatty meat because I will eat these carrots instead" would have meant humans would have perished a long time ago. However, today we are able to produce food in vast quantities but our preference for fatty foods hasn't changed.

Lets face it, if you exert yourself and hike up a mountain, what do you want when you get to the top, a lettuce leaf or a chocolate bar!

I heard the same type of explanation on Radio 4 a year or so ago by some doctor or other.

Answer 2

You posted this question in the wrong section; should have been under religion.

The answer is that, it's the work of the devil.

See, he wants us to be sickly and therefore be tempted by his promises of youth elixir, instant cures and so on. So he made fats taste nice.

Obviously it helped that many many centuries ago, when our ancestors were running around hunting for their food, it was critical for them to take enough fats to survive since their lifestyle was such that they burned it off. (They didn't need gyms then, the race for survival was the best exercise). Therefore we developed a taste for fats.

It's not just humans.

For example, it is said that sharks often give an exploratory bite, and see if the fat content in their potential victim is high enough to warrant a full attack where they could spend quite a bit of energy, and risk getting injured.

Fats per se are not that bad, it's just that our lifestyle has changed so much that we do not need to take in as much fatty foods as even our grandparents, but our tastes developed over thousands of years haven't had time to change. The most exercise some of us get daily is typing, so you can imagine...

We'll still be tempted by the devil for a while longer :)

Answer 3

Fats are an essential part of our diet, supplying fat soluble vitamins! It's also energy that can be used immediately or stored. Fat improves the palatability of food, keeping it moist for longer - compare a real sponge cake with its fat free counterpart.
Its only very recently that it has been seen as bad to eat or enjoy fat. Its an essential part of a healthy balanced diet, so don't fall for the hype. People have always eaten fats and oils, but only recently suffering high rates of heart disease.
Heart disease is caused by blocking your intake of air ( smoking, work-related lung disease ) and unmanageable stress. Hydrogenated vegetable fat is the least healthy fat you can eat. You're better off eating butter than margarine!

Answer 4

It's because there's a lot of flavour in the fat - take pork or lamb for instance, and what are potatoes like if just boiled plainly? Chip and fry them, and it's a different animal.

Answer 5

It comes from the days when food was scarse and we had to eat enough fat to survive the lean hungry times.

Answer 6

coz's its juicy,, every time u press the pork'''' u can see the fats flowing,,, and that's makes my apetite gud''' for some reason others want it to,,, STOP THEIR LIFE,,, coz eating fats makes ur cholesterol high and so as ur blood preassure,,, and then.... later on die,,,, sooo'' you! u still want to eat fat? if ur not high blood go on' but if u are,,better stop it u kill ur self and im afraid of that,,, coz' i answer ur question ,,,, lol

Answer 7

I rather eat healthy lol, so i'm not the majority lmao, Susie

Answer 8

in cave man times fats meant survival, so maybe it goes back that far.

Answer 9

whats sinful is fun...so as people who do drugs and cigarettes