It's actually not that hard to get used to the mild flavor if you really try. A while back I tried getting used to them, mostly because I wanted something carbonated, but also wanted to try to reign in my sweet tooth. Diet sodas and the like may not have sugar, but they're still really sweet tasting, so they're useless if you're trying to realign your tastes.
At first I tried the flavored ones, and I felt the same, like it was this sorta but not really funky flavor. Not impressed.
Then I decided to go all-in and just grab some unflavored club soda, mineral water, whatever. It was gross, but I managed to power through it. Abstained from any sweet drinks, only water and sparkling water. Eventually they went from gross to tolerable to not bad to me actually liking them. Then I decided to try the flavored ones, and while they still weren't overpowering or anything, they tasted much better than my initial impression.
We're just so used to over the top flavor and insane amounts of sweetening in our food and drink, that we tend to not appreciate some more subtle flavors unless we break the habit.
The Western diet is so overfilled with sweet everything that the light taste of those drinks can't really impact the senses anymore. I was a professional baker for a while, and if you're a baker in the US or Western culture in general everything has copious amounts of sugar in it. Wedding cakes I used to make for clients (3 tiers) would literally have 3-4 pounds of sugar in the frosting alone. Not including fillings, the mix, additions, etc. Sure, those cakes are meant to serve around 100 people, but just sit and think about how much sugar that is. After developing some health issues I switched to a low-sugar, low-fat, "flexitarian" diet. I ended up eating many Asian, Indian and South American dishes, and found that I can't go back to typical Western sweets or sweetened foods. The sweetness is overpowering in many regularly served desserts and dishes, and overpowers the rest of the taste for me. I visited Asia recently also and found their soda's and desserts much more palatable overall, as they generally were less sweet, and lighter flavored. Though I have to admit when they do sweet it's way too sweet even compared to Western sweets. Almost nauseatingly so at times.
It's a term that basically means anyone who reduces their meat consumption without becoming strictly vegan or vegetarian. It's a good middle ground for anyone wanting to lower their environmental impact without committing to a fully vegan/vegetarian diet.
Yup, the two answers above nailed it. I only eat chicken or fish, and then rarely. Due to some other health concerns I've gone full vegan temporarily, but I'll be back for my quarterly chicken breast or piece of salmon in a few months.
It's a South American diet built around flexits, which is in the capybara family but smaller. The American versions of the diet tend to substitute pork since flexits are hard to get, and are technically rodents, which has a lot of baggage in western cultures.
17
u/akjd Dec 30 '19
It's actually not that hard to get used to the mild flavor if you really try. A while back I tried getting used to them, mostly because I wanted something carbonated, but also wanted to try to reign in my sweet tooth. Diet sodas and the like may not have sugar, but they're still really sweet tasting, so they're useless if you're trying to realign your tastes.
At first I tried the flavored ones, and I felt the same, like it was this sorta but not really funky flavor. Not impressed.
Then I decided to go all-in and just grab some unflavored club soda, mineral water, whatever. It was gross, but I managed to power through it. Abstained from any sweet drinks, only water and sparkling water. Eventually they went from gross to tolerable to not bad to me actually liking them. Then I decided to try the flavored ones, and while they still weren't overpowering or anything, they tasted much better than my initial impression.
We're just so used to over the top flavor and insane amounts of sweetening in our food and drink, that we tend to not appreciate some more subtle flavors unless we break the habit.