On Wed, 2 Dec 1998, James Crocker wrote:

> >From:    Mary <[log in to unmask]>
> >Why do sweet things taste so good to our taste buds?
 etc., and is done by the plant on "purpose".
>
> 2) Humans need calories along with micronutrients to survive.  The more
> we eat, the faster we grow up and reproduce, and the better we can
> withstand lean times when food is scarce.  Thus, we developed a taste for
> high calorie foods, like sweets and fats.

This sounds correct to me, and supports your other theory,
concerning ripeness of fruit.  I think the basic premise is that
we have evolved with mechanisms to deal with caloric scarcity,
which suggests that caloric scarcity was a common enough
circumstance to create significant selection pressure.  It also
counts against what I regard as the dubious hypothesis that
"paleo" foods can be eaten in "unlimited amounts" without gaining
body fat.  Failure to gain body fat in times of abundance, it
seems to me, would have been a serious evolutionary handicap.

Our enjoyment of sweets and fats indicates, as you have argued,
that we are calorie-seeking organisms and, moreover, that we are
programmed to obtain those calories wherever we can.  If we were
"supposed" to thrive only on the savory tastes of meat and fat, I
don't think we would be endowed with taste buds for sweets.
Actually, I believe fat accentuates all flavors by polarizing
molecules in a manner that I used to understand but no longer can
recall in detail.  This is why it works so well in sauces,
gravies, etc., and why real ice cream tastes so much better than
its low-fat clones.

Todd Moody
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