Tasty and healthy TR(i)Ps

For the majority of the developed world, the hunter–gatherer lifestyle that served our predecessors for millennia is a distant memory. yet, despite our increasingly sophisticated approach to food as top chefs compete for Michelin stars, our basic ability to taste chemical signatures and perceive flavour has not changed. in fact, in addition to sight, the ability to taste might have been one of our ancestors’ most important senses, and one under strong selective pressure. From the taste and texture of a food we are able to discern much about whether it will be healthy or harmful for us, and this probably meant the difference between life and death for our predecessors. thus, our ability to taste is a function of survival and might explain much about the otherwise-strange things that humans find palatable today.