In the Midlands it’s strong curry flavours that excite the taste buds, while up north in Scotland they prefer rich creamy textures to savour.
New food researchers have discovered that a person’s taste in food is based on the region they come from.
Scientists at the University of Nottingham identified that like different regional accents, our taste preferences are also varied according to our home towns.
Interestingly this is also determined by the history of the area – in the North East foods they can be tasted immediately right on the tip of the tongue – like sour flavours are preferred. According to the researchers this is due to their history as an industrial area with hungry workers wanting an instant hit.
The survey, which was run by Costa Coffee, investigated the palates of 13,000 people from all different regions. In the north west across cities like Liverpool and Manchester, the preference is for soft, round flavours, with a suggestion this could be due to the region’s soft waters.
Food psychologist, Greg Tucker, and Andy Taylor, Professor of Flavour Technology at the University of Nottingham and an adviser to creative chef Heston Blumenthal, commented that the research was based on the abilities of different parts of the tongue picking up different flavours.
The front detects sweet flavours, the back picks up bitter tastes, the sides of the front can distinguish sour flavours while the middle tastes salty foods.
Professor Taylor said, “Taste is determined by our genetic make-up and influenced by our upbringing and experience with flavours.
“Just as with spoken dialects, where accent is placed on different syllables and vowel formations, people from different regions have developed enhanced sensitivities to certain taste sensations and seek foods that trigger these.”
Mr Tucker, managing director of the Marketing Clinic, based in Cambridge, said, “I suspected that there might be some minor differences from region to region but I was quite surprised that the variations were so pronounced.
“Taste preferences are predetermined by a combinations of economics, culture and genetics. ‘Taste dialect’ is a good phrase because just as you get dialects in any other countries, so you get taste dialects that are driven by different factors.”
In addition the researchers found that surprisingly, those in the South has the least defined regional taste buds, while the Scots were discovered to be the slowest eaters (also surprising!)
