Why Are PUFA's Delicious?

[narouz]

Hey I hear ya. I threw everything out the window the other night and chowed down on some sushi. Chased it with some fireball whiskey afterwards. Have to say, it was an excellent night and I didn't stress it one bit.

What the hell got into ya, Charlie!?
(thyroid? )

 

[charlie]

Yep, you nailed it.

 

[Asimov]

PUFA is not delicious, it's repulsive. I have a physiological reaction (no doubt it started as psychological) to just reading PUFA containing oils on an ingredient list.

I remember once going to the olive bar at my local grocer and buying some marinated olives and tomatoes. Thought it'd be a perfectly healthy snack. I drink straight olive oil and eat olives frequently, so I'm pretty attuned to the taste. However these olives tasted different. Immediately my stomach starched churning and I have massive diarrhea withing 40 minutes. Turns out their marinate their olives in canola oil. Canola Oil: tastes bad going in, feels bad going on...

A friend of mine had serious bowel problems after eating some nasty greasy chinese food, and couldn't for the life of him figure out why. I told him it was the oil it was cooked in. When he countered with "well, why doesn't greasy mexican make me sick?" and I responded simply "they use lard".

PUFA is not delicious, it's disgusting. I can feel the noxious effects within minutes of consumption. PUFA is ONLY palatable and physiological tolerable when surrounded by a much larger quantity of saturated fats.

 

[narouz]

PUFA is not delicious, it's repulsive. I have a physiological reaction (no doubt it started as psychological) to just reading PUFA containing oils on an ingredient list.

I remember once going to the olive bar at my local grocer and buying some marinated olives and tomatoes. Thought it'd be a perfectly healthy snack. I drink straight olive oil and eat olives frequently, so I'm pretty attuned to the taste. However these olives tasted different. Immediately my stomach starched churning and I have massive diarrhea withing 40 minutes. Turns out their marinate their olives in canola oil. Canola Oil: tastes bad going in, feels bad going on...

A friend of mine had serious bowel problems after eating some nasty greasy chinese food, and couldn't for the life of him figure out why. I told him it was the oil it was cooked in. When he countered with "well, why doesn't greasy mexican make me sick?" and I responded simply "they use lard".

PUFA is not delicious, it's disgusting. I can feel the noxious effects within minutes of consumption. PUFA is ONLY palatable and physiological tolerable when surrounded by a much larger quantity of saturated fats.

Pecan pie can be a tasty treat.

 

[Asimov]

probably the sugar

 

[Kasra]

I reject your core premise.

 

[narouz]

probably the sugar

So...a Sugar Pie would be more delicious than a Pecan Pie...?

 

[narouz]

I reject your core premise.

Bacon?

 

[Asimov]

probably the sugar

So...a Sugar Pie would be more delicious than a Pecan Pie...?

Pecan pie minus the sugar=gross
Pecan pie minus the pecan=still delicious

Fat is relatively tasteless. The flavor of fat is relatively benign until amplified by other flavors. What you do taste are sugars, proteins, salts, and well as various bitter and sour tasting compounds. These things, in combination with fat, deliver the complex flavors we're so drawn to (including pecans, which contain PUFA, saturated fats, sugars, proteins, and if you buy from from the store in a bag, almost certainly some smoky flavorings as well as copious amounts of salt).

PUFA is not delicious. It's nearly tasteless, unless you count rancidity as a flavor.

 

[narouz]

probably the sugar

So...a Sugar Pie would be more delicious than a Pecan Pie...?

Pecan pie minus the sugar=gross
Pecan pie minus the pecan=still delicious

Fat is relatively tasteless. The flavor of fat is relatively benign until amplified by other flavors. What you do taste are sugars, proteins, salts, and well as various bitter and sour tasting compounds. These things, in combination with fat, deliver the complex flavors we're so drawn to (including pecans, which contain PUFA, saturated fats, sugars, proteins, and if you buy from from the store in a bag, almost certainly some smoky flavorings as well as copious amounts of salt).

PUFA is not delicious. It's nearly tasteless, unless you count rancidity as a flavor.

Well...
I will modify my initial question to:
Why is a lot of high-PUFA food delicious?

 

[j.]

PUFA just happens to be by accident next to delicious stuff. :p

 

[key]

PUFA just happens to be by accident next to delicious stuff. :p

exactly switch corn/soy oil for coconut oil, the obesity epidemic disappears and were still eating all the tasty foods

 

[Asimov]

PUFA just happens to be by accident next to delicious stuff. :p

Exactly. Like Peat says, PUFA is pretty much everywhere, you can't avoid it. The fact that it's dirt cheap means that, to anyone who thinks all fat is created equal, is going to use PUFA over healthier and more expensive saturated fats.

Fat can amplify flavor (saturated or otherwise) and it just so happens that most of the flavor amplified fatty foods we consume in America tends to be fattened with cheap PUFA rather than expensive grass-fed butter or coconut oil.

 

[kiran]

Well...
I will modify my initial question to:
Why is a lot of high-PUFA food delicious?

Is it because of the PUFA or despite the PUFA?

 

[narouz]

Well...
I will modify my initial question to:
Why is a lot of high-PUFA food delicious?

Is it because of the PUFA or despite the PUFA?

It's a good question.
I don't know.

 

[kiran]

Well...
I will modify my initial question to:
Why is a lot of high-PUFA food delicious?

Is it because of the PUFA or despite the PUFA?

It's a good question.
I don't know.

If you took the same dish and replaced the PUFA with refined coconut oil, might it taste better?

 

[narouz]

Well...
I will modify my initial question to:
Why is a lot of high-PUFA food delicious?

Is it because of the PUFA or despite the PUFA?

It's a good question.
I don't know.

If you took the same dish and replaced the PUFA with refined coconut oil, might it taste better?

Well...
That would be hard to do with a pecan.
A perfectly naturally unpollutedly wildly grown non-GMO pecan
is chock full o' PUFAs.
And, most people would say it tastes delicious.
Is this an astounding fact?

Another Thought Experiment:
1. Eat some healthfood store but PUFA-fed chicken fried in organic peanut oil.
2. Eat some wild, completely pastured chicken fried in coconut oil.
3. Do you predict that #1 will leave you gagging and spitting out in disgust,
whereas #2 will taste orgasmically great?
4. Or do you predict that both will be really yummy and that #2 might even taste better?

 

[gretchen]

I ate pecans for a whole last year during the final paleo phase. It was like being a robot programmed for destruction. Note to self: don't eat potatoes, sugar, fruit, grains, Hagen Daazs (esp not the HD) or regular old milk in a plastic jug. Eat pecans because Grok would! .... makes no sense whatsoever.

 

[narouz]

I ate pecans for a whole last year during the final paleo phase. It was like being a robot programmed for destruction. Note to self: don't eat potatoes, sugar, fruit, grains, Hagen Daazs (esp not the HD) or regular old milk in a plastic jug. Eat pecans because Grok would! .... makes no sense whatsoever.

gretchen-
Ha.
Like you I ate a ton of pecans when under the influence of Low Carb/Paleo/Primal thinking.
And under the influence of eating just what tasted good.

You do understand I am not arguing that pecans are healthy, right? :)
I'm just saying that, to most people, pecans are delicious.
Well...or at least tasty.

(Who/What is "Grok"?
I know about "grok" as a reference from that old science fiction novel,
Stranger in a Strange Land.
But, as I recall, "grok" in that book meant something like love or sex or both....)

 

[j.]

I don't think eating a salad with pecans once every three months would be a big deal.