I have wondered about a similar notion, namely, why people have markedly differing opinions of the tastes of various foods, for example, broccoli.  People seem to love it or hate it.  I have never liked fungi, though many crave it.  So I wonder if one's tastes are in part genetically determined by variations in the gastromic molecular genetics of one's personal genome--that one tends toward foods that one's ancestors did well eating and avoids those foods that didn't work out too well over the generations.

That's an interesting point as well, Jim. I've heard a theory that anyone can overcome a distaste for foods (not an allergy, or similar) simply by persevering. I hate celery raw, but I keep meaning to eat it and see if I can acquire a taste for it. The problem is that the smell puts me off before I get it to my mouth. I do remember hating olives, sprouts and beer when I was young; all of which I have consumed happily in adulthood. Many common food aversions are probably linked to squeamishness e.g. offal, insects, horse meat etc.

I think there is also quite a physiological aspect to this argument. I have heard it is quite common for babies to absolutely detest what their mothers craved when they were pregnant and certain foods appeal to certain individuals that detested them when they were younger. I think many foods have been linked to emotional memories or such.

Maybe you should try eating celery in a location that you find very dear to you or right after something you enjoy. Self conditioning in this manner is difficult because the mind knows what you are trying to do but it is not impossible. Although as far as celery goes I don't understand how anything of any race could eat it.     

Everything I see and learn reinforces my view that we are built, just like all other animals, to survive. So our genes will play some part in telling us what to eat but I feel we just learn a lot very quickly when we're young.

We copy everyone around us. We put worms and dirt in our mouths and our parents scold us. Babies will try just anything. Parents just protect them from the dangerous stuff. All this experience becomes part of us because it trains our systems, nervous, emotional, physical and the rest of it.

When we're sick cos we ate something bad our bodies are designed to associate it with what made us sick. that's our evolutionary response and in our DNA. We're different to animals in that we override this. Rats undernourished naturally chose food that replaced lost nutrients, humans don't. alcoholics have cronic vitamin defficiency but don't fix it.

So I'd argue that humans are ruled by their minds and emotions far more than animals. We actually learn to ignore our natural instincts infavour of cultural norms and personal preferences.

So, yes I think we genuinely can detect what's in our food, and eat appropriate foods to get the right balance. I just think our lifestyles encourage us to ignore this and we don't really learn how to listen. 

Wow! Does it ever!

I had a complete and all consuming need for Raw Lemons eaten whole, Industrial strength Acid Drops and Neat Vinegar. 

After much self research and diagnosis I pinned it down to an NHS prescription malfunction. 8X overdose of a Proton Pump Inhibitor.

I had virtually zero stomach acid.

Correcting the dose wiped out the craving.