Acquired taste

It is the opposite of innate taste, which is the appreciation for things that are enjoyable by most people without prior exposure to them.

In case of food and drink, the difficulty of enjoying the product may be due to a strong or unpleasant odor, taste, mouthfeel (such as sashimi and sushi featuring uncooked seafood), appearance, or association (such as eating insects or organ meat).

A study that investigated the effect of adding caffeine and theobromine (active compounds in chocolate) vs. a placebo to identically flavored drinks that participants tasted several times, yielded the development of a strong preference for the drink with the compounds.

It usually requires a deliberate effort, acting as if one likes something in order to have the responses and feelings that will produce the desired taste.

The challenge becomes one of distinguishing authentic or legitimate acquired tastes as a result of deeply considered preference changes from inauthentic ones motivated by status or conformity.