What are some cultural differences in taste, pain, and other senses?

Question

Links would be helpful. Thanks.

Answer 1

I found the following from internet search:

1. Cross-cultural differences in simple taste preferences:
A population of Indian laborers who show high preferences for sour and bitter tastes has been studied. Their judgments of taste intensity and pleasantness of sweet and salty stimuli are in accord with European population estimates, which suggests that dietary history may alter preferences for simple taste stimuli without affecting the gustatory system.

2. UF researchers find ethnic differences in reports of pain perception:
In a study of more than 200 student athletes, UF researchers found that on average the 55 black participants reported a greater sensitivity to pain than their 159 white counterparts during an uncomfortable laboratory test. Blacks rated their discomfort at an average of 8.2 on a 13-point scale. Whites reported less pain, scoring 6.9. Participants, who included men and women age 17 to 24, rated the intensity and unpleasantness of the pain they experienced when a bag of ice water was placed on their foreheads for two minutes.

The study also indicated the athletes rated their pain as more intense when the experiment was conducted by whites rather than Asians.

3. What "culture" in this way means is a people's way of coping with the external world, their way of finding behavior patterns that make survival more likely for them. Like life itself, these behavior patterns and ways of understanding the outside world, other persons, and even one's own self, these patterns evolve slowly, and then live on over generations, even over centuries. Eventually their original significance even becomes lost. Thus we shake hands - why? Well, it goes back to Western antiquity and was a gesture to show that one held no concealed weapon in the fighting hand, the right hand. In other parts of the world, such as the Far East, it was unknown as a custom and remained so until the twentieth century. Over the course of the centuries, the original meaning became forgotten, becoming simply "something you do." But on a deeper level, below the level of consciousness, in shaking hands and saying hello to a stranger, we also make physical contact involving four senses: seeing, touching, hearing, and even smelling. Without being aware of it, we are gathering vital intuitive impressions concerning this stranger. In this way, shaking hands lives on a useful life in an age without concealed daggers, regardless of whether we are aware of everything that is going on in the communication.

Those are the ones that came up with internet search. The 3rd one is way out than the first two in respect of its compatibility to the Question asked on senses. However, hope this helps a bit to understand the effect of cultural differences in taste and pain.

Answer 2

Well, I can't be too helpful on this... but there is a tremendous difference in the cuisine of different people, which leads to tolerances to certain things... for instance, Thai food is often very spicy, because of the very strong peppers they use... likewise Mexican food. Cultural differences have led to that being a traditional food, and they build up a tolerance for and a liking for the spiciness many other people cannot tolerate. Wish I had a link for you. Hope that helped a little.