Ordinary Banana

If you figured out the relationship between flavor, status, and meaning you would be able to sell a lot of products and make people very mad

Bitter is a high status flavor. Sweet is a low status flavor.

what could it mean though? bitter flavor often associated with presence of potentially toxic substances (alcohols and alkaloids in particular). demonstration of robustness to voluntarily consume poison?

that is plausible of bitterness but sweetness being low status is ahistorical. that is probably restricted to the present era where metabolic diseases are a serious problem. I do recall that refined sugar was ridiculously high status in the 17th century.

scarce good imported from distant plantation colonies. access to it associated with wealth and power (being on the right end of the gunboat cannons). all of that is nothing to do with the flavor itself though. feels like this argument is missing something important.

how much is desirability of flavors a social construction? are "acquired tastes" ubiquitous features of human cultures? do they share common flavor profiles? I can see that as being likely for bitterness perhaps but definitely not for sweetness, which is craved by most animals.

yeah that’s why the people banning flavored vapes/flavored cigarettes made me think of it