What Foods Do Super Tasters Like? Decoding Their Unique Palate

December 21, 2025 •

3 min read

Approximately 25% of the population are supertasters, individuals who experience taste with far greater intensity than the average person. This heightened sense of taste is driven by a higher density of taste receptors on their tongues, which profoundly influences what foods do super tasters like and dislike.

Quick Summary

A supertaster's heightened palate makes some flavors, particularly bitterness, unbearable, leading them toward less intense foods. They may use salt, sugar, or fat to mask strong tastes.

Key Points

Genetic Sensitivity: Supertasters experience flavors, especially bitterness, more intensely due to a higher concentration of taste receptors on their tongues, often linked to the TAS2R38 gene.
Avoidance of Bitter Foods: Common aversions include cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, kale), black coffee, dark chocolate, certain alcoholic beverages, and grapefruit juice.
Preference for Simpler Foods: Supertasters often gravitate towards blander foods with mild flavors, like starches and naturally sweet root vegetables such as carrots and sweet potatoes.
Strategic Use of Salt: They often use salt to mask or balance out bitter flavors in foods, though they may also perceive saltiness more intensely.
Culinary Adaptations are Key: Techniques like roasting vegetables to enhance sweetness, or adding fat and salt, can make many healthier foods more palatable for a supertaster.
Health Trade-offs: While they may avoid fatty and sugary foods, supertasters may also consume less fiber and more sodium, potentially affecting their health.

The Science Behind a Super Palate

Supertasters possess a significantly higher number of fungiform papillae, the bumps on the tongue containing taste buds, resulting in an intensified sensory experience for all flavors. This trait is often associated with a genetic sensitivity to bitter compounds, particularly PROP (propylthiouracil), which is similar to substances found in many vegetables. This heightened sensitivity extends to sweetness and saltiness as well, making intense versions of these flavors potentially unpalatable and often leading to a more limited diet.

The Aversion to Intense Flavors

The heightened taste perception of supertasters makes many common foods overwhelming, often resulting in them being described as picky eaters.

Foods Typically Avoided by Supertasters

Bitter vegetables like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and kale due to bitter compounds.
Bitter beverages such as black coffee, many red wines, beer, and grapefruit juice.
Spicy foods, which can cause intense pain due to sensitive pain receptors.
Fatty foods, perceived as overly oily.
Dark chocolate due to its bitter notes.

The Palatable Preferences of Supertasters

So, what foods do super tasters like? They often favor simpler, less intense flavors or foods where pleasant flavors can mask less desirable ones. Some also enjoy simple starches and milder vegetables.

Preferred and Tolerable Food Choices

Root vegetables like carrots, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash for their natural sweetness and mildness.
Milder greens such as butter lettuce or cooked baby spinach.
Starchy foods like potatoes, rice, and pasta.
Fruits offering pleasant sweetness, such as melons, apples, and blueberries.
Salty items, as salt can suppress bitter flavors. Adding salt can make foods like grapefruit more tolerable.

A Comparison of Taster Preferences


Feature	Supertaster	Average Taster	Non-Taster
Taste Sensitivity	High	Moderate	Low
Bitter Perception	Strong aversion	Tolerable	Weak
Sweet Perception	Enhanced	Standard	Lower
Fat Perception	Strong	Moderate	Lower
Spicy Perception	High sensitivity	Moderate	Low sensitivity
Likelihood of Smoking/Drinking	Less likely	Average likelihood	More likely

Culinary Strategies for Supertasters

Supertasters can expand their diet and nutrient intake using effective culinary strategies.

Masking Bitter Flavors: Salt is a primary tool, but sugar and healthy fats can also help make bitter foods more palatable. Roasting vegetables can enhance natural sweetness, and glazes can improve taste.

Focusing on Milder Options: Choosing naturally sweeter and less bitter alternatives, such as baby spinach over arugula or cauliflower over broccoli, can be beneficial. Opting for lighter wines is also an option.

Exploring Cooking Methods: Methods like puréeing vegetables into soups can mask bitterness while preserving nutrients.

Conclusion

While a supertaster's sensitive palate can limit enjoyment of intense flavors, it doesn't necessitate a restricted diet. By understanding their genetic predisposition and utilizing strategic cooking methods, supertasters can enjoy a varied culinary experience. Focusing on milder vegetables, using salt and fat to balance bitterness, and exploring different cooking methods allows for palatable and enjoyable meals, transforming potential food aversions into opportunities for diverse culinary exploration. The key is adapting and making conscious choices to suit their unique taste perception. For more information on the genetics of taste, refer to this article from 23andMe's blog.

Frequently Asked Questions

A supertaster is someone with a heightened sense of taste, experiencing flavors more intensely than the average person. This is often linked to a higher number of taste receptors, or fungiform papillae, on the tongue.

Yes, many supertasters are considered picky eaters because their heightened taste sensitivity can make many common foods, especially bitter ones, unpleasantly intense or even unbearable.

Supertasters often have a genetic variant that makes them extremely sensitive to bitter compounds found in vegetables like broccoli, kale, and Brussels sprouts. For them, the bitter taste is overwhelming and unpleasant.

Not necessarily all, but many supertasters prefer foods with less intense flavor profiles to avoid overwhelming their sensitive palates. However, they can enjoy complex flavors that aren't excessively bitter, sweet, or spicy.

Salt has a unique ability to mask or block bitter flavors. Supertasters may instinctively add salt to food to make it more palatable and offset any underlying bitterness.

Milder, sweeter vegetables like carrots, sweet potatoes, corn, and certain squashes such as butternut squash are often more tolerable for supertasters.

While it's difficult to overcome a genetic predisposition, supertasters can learn to tolerate bitter foods by using cooking methods that reduce bitterness (like roasting) or by pairing them with masking flavors (fat, salt, sugar).