> "Bland"? Bah. "Subtle", maybe, though. And certainly not boring.

The jab was good natured. But this response would seem to fit with what the supertasters research supports. "Subtle" suggests that it takes an appropriately sensitive sense of taste to discern those subtleties. If the British are primarily supertasters by heredity, of course British food is going to be "subtle" by the standards of the rest of the world's cuisine.

However, for someone with a less sensitive tongue, the "subtleties" may be physically undetectable, and therefore the food does, indeed, become "boring." Similarly, foods that a supertaster might rightly call overpowering, a non-taster or medium taster might rightly call "subtle."

I figure I'm in the medium taster category, leaning on the supertaster side. Some British food is indeed "boring" to me, but there are several things that I like. And Indian food is indeed "insane" to me -- dire pain is not fun. I like sweet things, but not too sweet, and I like *mildly* spicy things. Of the various "bitter" things that supertasters are said to generally dislike, I like broccoli, cauliflower, grapefruit, chili, and dark chocolate (although I prefer milk chocolate), but I don't like coffee, wine, brussels sprouts, spinach, peppers, olives, or sharp cheeses.

Taste sensitivity is said to decline with age, so this may explain why most of those things that supertasters dislike are often thought of as "grown-up foods" that kids traditionally don't like. Another interesting thought in all of this.