[msandford]

On the one hand the claim sounds absolutely fantastical right?

"The human tongue which is free is better than a million dollar analytical lab staffed with real scientists."

On the other hand, how did we know what to eat to keep ourselves alive before there were labs and science? Taste maybe? Maybe things taste good to us for survival reasons. Maybe our tongues serve a real and incredible purpose.

[Teever]

If we were to run with this idea then humans lacking in particular nutrients should be able crave specific foods that are abundant in the nutrients theyre lacking.

But we dont see this in people with diets that consist of low nutrient high calorie processed food. Instead they just keep eating and eating the same food and gaining weight while developing nutrient deficiencies.

With that said I have noticed that ovee the years I have been able to notice tje differencd between a need for caloroes and protein, but thats probably because I've experienced low blopd sugar enough to know the symptoms -- I get hangry.

[monetus]

Have you never heard the tale of that guy, lost at sea, who slowly stopped eating the normal parts of fish as he started to crave the eyes and other unusual parts? Wish I could remember his name. He blamed the change in cravings on a nutrient deficiency.

[culi]

People who are starving will also often start having weird cravings for things like rocks and other substances likely to be high in certain minerals

[bobthechef]

That you can find bad eating habits doesn't disprove the notion that taste has something to do with nutrient content. Our senses are not distinct from our psyches. Why we might choose to eat in ways that are not good for us is not determined by the tongue alone, and even the capacity to taste can vary. (Of course, more than taste is engaged in determining what to eat. We select foods based on a variety of signs. We can be fooled, but just because a sign may be misinterpreted doesn't mean signs are irrelevant. It's not either/or.)

I've met people who dislike anything except chicken fingers. They dislike anything but a very restricted number of foods, often of mediocre quality. Why? I don't know. Maybe they were raised on mediocre diets. Maybe they suffer from rigidity. That doesn't mean I can't look at a two tomatoes and generally tell which one is likely more nutritious by tasting it.