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Martin Smith's avatar

I love this dish and would gladly choose it over a much sweeter cheesecake. But I didn’t love desserts like this when I was a kid. Is there tasting science about how our tastes for less sweet desserts change as we age?

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Peter Giuliano's avatar

Good question! Studies show that humans have a U shaped sweetness preference curve according to age. Children have a very high preference for sweetness, young adults and adults have a reduced preference for sweetness, but the elderly have a high preference for sweetness again. It's not clear what causes this, though.

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Martin Smith's avatar

Oh wow, I didn’t know that. This explains why my dad loves candy so much.

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Mario Fernandez's avatar

As “quesada” and “cassata” have exactly the same etymology (“cheesed”), “quesadilla” in Sicily would be “cassatella” 😃

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Peter Giuliano's avatar

Indeed! Except in Sicilian language it is a double “d” not a double “l”, so it’s “cassatedda” which is this: https://www.sicilianfoodtours.com/italian-recipes/cassateddi-dessert/

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Mario Fernandez's avatar

Ooh! Cassatedda is like a sweet quesadilla-like pastry! One more similarity between Sicily and Mexico for the list!

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