Why do taste buds change?

Is it just my children or is this universal – what they seem to love, or at the very least eat one week will change by the next (I’ll state this right up front, I do not have picky eaters). When I make a recipe I will write next to it comments such as “very good,” “excellent,” “not a hit.” I’ve also started writing a date next to the recipe the first time we test it out. Some recipes seem to hold up year after year. Others though … take the Chickpea Vegetable Medley this past week. This was a recipe from the original Big Red (BH&G) cookbook – not exactly one of my vegetarian go-to books and reprinted in the Virginian Pilot. I first tested this one out in 1998 – the year our daughter was born. I am not sure if I’ve made it since then, and that’s partly why I’m going through this 12-week exercise, to rediscover oldies but goodies and weed out the no-hitters. This particular recipe I was looking forward to making again, it had “excellent” written next to it followed by exclamation points – how could I miss? Miss I did though, the twoteensandatween were less than enthusiastic, a bite or two and then the tell tale plate turning. That is never a good sign, when one of my kids takes the plate and turns it so that the offending item is somehow further away from them, or maybe if they look at the plate in only one direction the item in sensory question is out of their peripheral view. No matter how they handle it, the message is clear – not a hit. For my part, I thought it was good but not worthy of the high praise I bestowed on it over a decade ago. This made me wonder, why do your taste buds change? When the kids were younger I used to make spinach lasagna and they loved it but now it is on their most hated list (I used to make it when my parents would come to visit because they loved it and I knew the four of us could put a dent in the casserole dish, I haven't had it for nearly two years now ... wonder if it's as good as I remember). Wrenn was rabid about sweet potatoes when she was little, she would eat them like I was giving her a bowl of ice cream – she won’t even put them on her plate now. At times I sigh and think it was easier to feed them when they were toddlers, with two misses and only three hits this week I swear I think serving prepared foods would just be so much easier – but those three hits are what keep me going and … inspired.

Delicious Fish (swapped out for salmon on the grill when one teen declared he’d had enough eating salmon for a while) – oldie but a goodie – three thumbs up.

Mulligatawny Soup – a friend gave me this recipe and said her family loved it but it was not a hit with the Cleary Clan, “I like your other soups better” was the comment.

Spaghetti with Lentil Sauce – thankfully, still a hit, three thumbs up

Chickpea Vegetable Medley – three thumbs down

Tuna Noodle Soup – was supposed to be sandwiches but I was feeling a bit under the weather and this is one of our family’s comfort foods, three thumbs up.