But if you mix the string beans into the dessert, flavor-flavor learning kicks in, and kids will learn to like the beans, even after the dessert is taken away, she maintains. And once a taste preference is set, it doesn't go away-unless, of course, you mix the beans with a taste the child doesn't like, she adds. Once you've learned something like this, you will eat more, and if you eat more of it, you will like it. Capaldi, who has edited two books on the psychology of eating and authored the chapters on taste preferences, points out there are other ways besides flavor-flavor learning to determine food preferences. Take, for example, skim milk.
Most people find it watery when they first start drinking it.
Yet after awhile, the taste is not so bad, and whole milk will seem too rich, she says. But it can take two to four months for a person to learn to like a particular food. The more variety in a meal, the more you'll eat, she says. If I give you bananas and bread, you could eat more. And if I give bananas and bread and chocolate, you could eat a whole lot more.