I just bought a pack of "World Flavours" Mentos at Netto, featuring flavors that are only available in certain countries (Denmark's contribution being, of course, licorice). The Japanese grape ones are pretty terrible, as are the eucalyptus menthol. Anyway, this got me thinking about how weird it is that different countries have their own preferred flavors at all -- how does that get started? In Denmark, the two huge staples that most Americans can't stand are leverpostej (liver paté) and salt lakrids (salty licorice). Liver paté is like the equivalent of peanut butter in the US: eaten by every little kid in their school lunches, and also enjoyed but less prevalent in adult lunches. I suppose in this case it's
just a matter of what you're exposed to at an early age -- liver paté, once you get past the aversion to the idea of liver, is not that different from peanut butter: salty paste to add flavor to a sandwich. BUT this doesn't account for the salt licorice -- kids don't eat salt licorice; one popular brand (right, although I think it's too small to read the warning) even says on the label "adult licorice, not children's licorice". So, if this isn't a question of what one grows up with, how can it be that Danes love this stuff, while a taste of it sends an American running for a glass of water to rinse out their mouth? There has to be a first time Danes try salt licorice, and if their reaction was as strong as that of all Americans I've seen trying it, why would they ever try again? Is there some genetic difference that makes them love it at first taste? Or does it have to do with building up to the adult stuff by eating a lot of children's licorice? (Non-salt licorice is eaten by children, and very very different from the salted variety -- even I am growing to kind of like certain brands). Still, the huge difference between salt- and non-salt licorice makes me skeptical of the "build-up" hypothesis. It's a mystery -- someone should do a study and figure it out. Maybe one day my claim to fame will be the discovery of the salt lakrids gene. Until then, I'll just have to wonder about it.
4 comments:
You raise important questions for anyone interested in the place of sweetmeats in modern industrial societies. Here are some more questions for your research agenda:
1. The Dutch, like the Danes, love salty licorice. Might this explain why citizens of both nations speak so gutturally? Could their throats always hurt from the salt?
2. Do immigrants to Denmark from other sweetmeat-advanced countries, such as India, readily abandon their ancestral favorites, such as laddoo and jalebi, in favor of such Nordic treats? I have some experience in such matters, and would willingly consult in this research, for a fee.
The world wants to know.
Indians might abandon their "ancestral favorities", as you say, out of necessity rather than desire. Haven't seen much laddoo or jalebi available here -- but maybe I just need to venture further into Nørrebro. (Although Turkish sweetmeats would probably be more readily available than Indian ones there.)
brings back vivid and terrifying memory of working in a Dutch gum factory --- when the nice Dutch girl wanted to show me their best flavor, and popped salty licorice gum in my mouth. It was so awful! What were they thinking of!
My personal theory is that there is something (presumably a chemical, though I am well aware that my specific choice of the word someTHING, rather than delineating it specifically as a chemical makes it sounds like it could be some kinda of [supernatural?] aqueous licorice monster) in the Danish air or water that makes people like licorice. This is based solely on the fact that my aversion to anything remotely aniseed-esque seems to have faded (though not entirely disappeared) during my time here.
Otherwise, I would not be surprised if it was a genetic thing. You know, Danes inherit blond(e) hair, blue eyes, and a propensity towards licorice.
I actually googled looking for a study of licorice lovers, but have yet to find one. I'm going to keep looking, but until then, check out these links:
http://boards.bootsnall.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/82910304/m/42610754
and
http://liqs.blogspot.com/
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