Why products are so tasteless?

carbolysis said:

The oil in the pot tasted like WD40

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I have never tasted WD40. I got a mouth full of brake fluid once when bleeding brakes on my car, that did not taste like olives either.

carbolysis said:

I really cannot understand it. Most of the products I buy at the supermarkets are horrendous. I bought an olives and feta pot. The olives are completely tasteless. You cannot have the olives without a taste. You either make them salted or sour with vinegar. You cannot leave them like that. And in most pizzas, they put olives in brine! Yuck!

The oil in the pot tasted like WD40. I can't believe where they manage to get that olive from with such horrible taste. The cheese same. Why most products are horrible like that? Most sauces are full of sugar. They make everything with a mildly sweet taste. Even the aioli I bought was sweet and had sugar! Soups have sugar, everything has sugar!

It seems british people despise any strong taste (salty, sour, etc) and all the products that should have taste and blunt. Also it seems british people love everything sweet, so everything has sugar in and it is like the dessert version of the original.

I wonder, is this the choice of the companies that make the products or they conduct surveys and british people actually choose these ********? I am really struggling to find nice tasty products

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Tastes have certainly changed and very few people enjoy eating the bitters that would have been around before sugar became so available. I always had trouble understanding why cheese with fruit in it was so popular. Fruit and cheese served separately lovely. On the other hand, ignoring salt, surely the british diet before the advent of processed food would have been bland as it lacked the herbs and spices incorporated in so many other cuisines. I am just recalling the advertising coup that was the M&S introduction of garlic in their ready meals. What is your preferred cuisine?

It's a bit of a sweeping generalisation to say all British people like/hate certain things. I'm old enough to remember the advent of convenience food and the impact it had on my family. I do beleive that there is a slow shift toward real food as people learn more about processed muck. In a poll it was said that curry has become our national dish so people are not averse to spices, world foods etc.
The food industry has a lot to answer for as year on year they have increased salt and sugar in foodstuffs and only recently has the government stepped in to try to address the frightful amounts of said especially in foods aimed at children.
I am of the opinion that education is key to changing attitudes begining with bringing back wht used to be called domestic science at schools incorporating health and biology. Healthy foods should not be more expensive than 'orange food in orange boxes' and the number of fast food takeaways near schools should be curtailed. There are now fast food bars in hospitals, this also needs to be addressed. I could go on with this rant but I've probably said too much already.

We're a mongrel nation made up from waves and waves of immigrants throughout the ages, and each new wave from each new place has brought with it a new set of flavours. Though you could claim I'm biased (by dint of being British), I genuinely believe British cuisine is among the best anywhere - Afro-Caribbean, pan-Asian, pan-African, pan-European and now Eastern European flavours all readily available, whether you're eating out, looking for a takeaway or doing a supermarket shop.*

Sure, your bog-standard frozen-section cottage pie will be bland as beans, but if you buy olives from a local deli instead of a supermarket, you'll find they've been treated, cured and seasoned properly and will be delicious. It's the same with almost anything - supermarkets are bad places to buy good food. And while it can be tricky to find local groceries, farmers markets and delis, it's certainly worth the time looking for them - the produce will be fresher, more local, more flavourful and treated far better.

As for British food? What, exactly, is British food anyway?

Is it this:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/only-in-britain/the-15-most-british-foods-ever/

Or this:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...kka-masala-knocked-spot-Chinese-stir-fry.html

I am confused by the generalisation!



*Quick edit: One of the best meals I had pre-diagnosis was a Somali "meat pot" (minced meat cooked with onion, a minimum of seasoning and some flavoured oil) with "hot sauce" (where you add your spices to a sauce made from hot tomato paste) with some very British chips. It was amazing.

I'm not a foodie and, if defined, I suppose I've always been a member of the Food is Fuel camp. Since changing to my LCHF lifestyle in February, though, I have come to appreciate the full tastes and flavours of real food as opposed to anything (and everything) pre-prepared, pre-packaged and processed. My culinary tastes are now simple ..
# only eat real food
# only eat when hungry
# only eat until full

carbolysis said:

It seems british people despise any strong taste (salty, sour, etc) and all the products that should have taste and blunt. Also it seems british people love everything sweet, so everything has sugar in and it is like the dessert version of the original.

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You are so very wrong @carbolysis. I don't know how or where you did you shopping - but you may need to change that. Not to be cheeky, but is there anything wrong with your sense of taste just now?

If all that you are experiencing are ready-prepared foods, then I'm afraid you probably will find some of them bland and unappetising. Supermarkets make food for the masses, but if you want something to your own tastes, then you've got to be prepared to pay more or to make your own.
Personally, I think Feta is vile when it's drowned in bland supermarket sunflower oil. It spoils the crumbly, creamy texture. I think if you maybe opt purchase some decent deli quality olives, and a good feta on it's own, then you won't be so disappointed.
If you do like the oil, you could also buy a bottle of cold-pressed olive oil and drizzle it over prior to serving (and rip up some fresh basil leaves to scatter over too)... then you've got olives and feta worth eating.

The reason why traditional british foods are neither salty or sour is because the components making those flavours weren't available to us in great quantities in this country. Historically, britain wouldn't have had native chili peppers, sugar was merely a spice and not the food staple it is today, and we didn't even have cabbages until the Romans brought them over.
We were a country covered in forests, surrounded by the sea. Our foods came from nature - nuts, berries, dairy products from farms, herbs that grew in abundance, meat from the hunts.
The diet we have today is built up of centuries of trade and globalisation.
As Brits our traditional food isn't necessarily sour or spicy, but that doesn't mean that it is flavourless or inferior to the foods of other nations! If you think that, you've never tried a good vintage cheddar, or an arbroath smokie!

carbolysis said:

The olives are completely tasteless.

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M&S do a good range of stuffed olives which are really nice, you should try them if you don't care much for olives on their own.

carbolysis said:

It seems british people despise any strong taste (salty, sour, etc) and all the products that should have taste and blunt.

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Well one of the food products you mentioned (cheese) has a very high salt content, try buying some of the blue cheeses on offer if you like a strong salty taste.

It might be your sense of taste is changing - I've noticed since starting low carb eating that a lot of things taste sweet that didn't used to before - for instance tonic water and strong dark chocolate - and somethings that used to taste sweet before are far too sweet and inedible now. As for salty.... my sense of taste has changed with that as well. I've found I don't add salt to my food at the table and I tend to avoid anything that I think might be salty. I didn't realise I was doing that unless my husband pointed it out.

carbolysis said:

I like Mediterranean, very naturally strong tastes. Asian are full of sweets as well and full of carbs, horrible.

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There are LOTS of lovely strong-tasting foods, including olives of all kinds.

Perhaps try broadening the number of places you shop, or speak to,your GP to,check there's no medical problem causing your inability to taste foods.

Try this thread for help and advice @carbolysis The OP hadexactly the same issues as you and received lots of helpful suggestions:

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/availability-of-international-foods.103821/#post-1191637

I'm sure some of those will help you.

.

SockFiddler said:

We're a mongrel nation made up from waves and waves of immigrants throughout the ages, and each new wave from each new place has brought with it a new set of flavours. Though you could claim I'm biased (by dint of being British), I genuinely believe British cuisine is among the best anywhere - Afro-Caribbean, pan-Asian, pan-African, pan-European and now Eastern European flavours all readily available, whether you're eating out, looking for a takeaway or doing a supermarket shop.*

Sure, your bog-standard frozen-section cottage pie will be bland as beans, but if you buy olives from a local deli instead of a supermarket, you'll find they've been treated, cured and seasoned properly and will be delicious. It's the same with almost anything - supermarkets are bad places to buy good food. And while it can be tricky to find local groceries, farmers markets and delis, it's certainly worth the time looking for them - the produce will be fresher, more local, more flavourful and treated far better.

As for British food? What, exactly, is British food anyway?

Is it this:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/only-in-britain/the-15-most-british-foods-ever/

Or this:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...kka-masala-knocked-spot-Chinese-stir-fry.html

I am confused by the generalisation!



*Quick edit: One of the best meals I had pre-diagnosis was a Somali "meat pot" (minced meat cooked with onion, a minimum of seasoning and some flavoured oil) with "hot sauce" (where you add your spices to a sauce made from hot tomato paste) with some very British chips. It was amazing.

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Where I live local shops like deli's and butchers are a thing of the past

carbolysis said:

I like Mediterranean, very naturally strong tastes. Asian are full of sweets as well and full of carbs, horrible.

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I expect there would be very few places in the UK where you can get the authentic olives if you are used to those in the mediterranean area. Ditto citrus fruit. UK homegrown tomatoes are not the same as those picked ripe from the field in places like italy or California so there is no hope for supermarket ones. Even the feta cheese from the supermarket does not taste the same as the cheese I have eaten aroud the mediterranean. Ditto for chocolate, grapes, ice cream.
If you have deep pockets there are solutions in the form of specialist importers but personally I would cook tasty dishes with local ingredients using home grown herbs and save the cash for a couple of foodie trips. Maybe a food fesival in Greece - aahh the beans. Spain. Italy, Morocco so many choices. Remember to bring home some favorite pickles.
Try Felicity Cloakes perfect recipes, perfect a few signature dishes like those with the names that translate to beef stew.
The UK does some excellent hard cheeses that can really enhance the tasty of many ingredients. Thyme, a few basil leaves, a sprig of mint , sage or rosemary. All grow very well in the UK if you can find somewhere dry enough (or shady for mint).

editted to add a PS when you go can you get me some onion seeds for a strong tasting onion. The sort that bring a tear to the eye at German beer festivals. It is years since I have seen any in the UK. I add whole heads of garlic to recipes.

Everything tastes nicer when you are on holiday.

Chook said:

Everything tastes nicer when you are on holiday.

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I was going to press agree. Then I remembered Mexico. Theoretically I should have been in gastronomy heaven.
Then there is the airports but for me with a couple of exceptions the holiday only begins after I have got away from them. Then I have had some amazing meals without the holiday. When the ambience and culinery skill gets it right the simpliest of foods are nectar from the gods. Like the op's olives. When those two vital ingredients are not there the finest ingredients cannot save the day:- civic dinners for example.
A fresh salad can be a delight to the taste buds but when the eyes and memory bank have triggered the delight button the taste of reality is a major disappointment. I never feel comfortable about salad unless I have grown it myself but that is an affliction of knowledge.
Currently the sun warmed plums are being plucked from the trees. Surely England has the best plums. In most countries a piece of fruit can be served as dessert. I rarely see that happen in the UK.

Certain medications can alter the taste buds. Metformin in particular is reknowned for imparting a metallic taste, and of blunting the appetite.

If you buy processed foods and ready meals you may have to accept that there is probably a tendency to offer a "one flavour suits all" product. But not all meals have to be so, freshly prepared ingredients can have anything from strong robust flavours to the most subtle and delicate ones, especially with home grown fruit and veggies.

Robbity

carbolysis said:

The same tasteless cr*p is used in the restaurant at work and I cannot enjoy a well seasoned salad there.

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I thought you give that job away, was it because of the restaurant food?