When it comes to foods, texture is a huge part of the experience - for better or worse. There are a lot of foods that people like specifically because of their texture. For example, I doubt that anyone would ever eat a soft, moist, tender Doritos chip.
In fact, potato chips as a whole exist almost exclusively because they are crunchy. The various tastes they put on potato chips are practically just an afterthought. If you doubt me, try a little bag of Lay's classic potato chips. Just three ingredients (potatoes, oil, and salt), no added flavors. And incredibly delicious!
The same is true of octopus, squid, and tripe. No one cares what these substances taste like. The taste is completely irrelevant. Which is good, because they don't really have a flavor (unless you count "rubber band" as a flavor, which I guess I do). People like these foods because of their texture: rubbery, but yielding to the tooth. Like unflavored and unsweetened gummy bears, basically. (Gross.)
Speaking of gross, texture is also something that can be a real turn-off. I have huge issues with the texture of beans. They have that mushy soft component which I am not wild about. (I only barely tolerate it in bananas, and even then, they have to be pretty firm bananas.) But then you also have that gritty texture in there. The combination is wildly unappealing to me.
Mushy/creamy foods seem to be the ones that most people dislike. Especially if you throw in a secondary texture, like tapioca pudding with the little fish eyes (tapioca pearls) in it, or rice pudding with the semi-gelatinous rice grains.
Once you start paying attention to food texture, you may be surprised at the incredible variety. I buy containers of super-fancy mixed nuts (no peanuts), and I love the subtle difference in texture between all the nuts. Macadamias, cashews, hazelnuts, walnuts, Brazil nuts - each has its own specific kind of crunch. Delicious!
Image courtesy Flickr/jawcey
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