They could be anybody, anywhere. Your sister, your mother, your neighbor… even your spouse could be a closet licorice lover. You would never know. As an elite group of highly secretive multinational cohorts in the United States, licorice lovers maintain their anonymity in the real world, and only show their numbers anonymously, often via the World Wide Web.
If you were to come upon a licorice lover in real life and ask them how they felt about the mildy sweet candy, they would reply with the expected response: “Licorice? Gah, horrid stuff. Can’t stand it. No sir, not me.” However, if you were to dig deep in pockets or purse, you would most likely find a bag of Good & Plenty staring back at you. Not that they would admit to ownership, of course.
The reasoning behind this secrecy is different for every person, but most find it has to do with a desire for acceptance in the general population. As a nation, the United States suffers from an overabundance of sugary sweet candy, and lacks the nuanced flavors that licorice candies provide. As American taste buds develop into adulthood, those receptors that would transmit pleasure at the licorice flavor are suppressed, overgrown by those which cater to pure sugar. However, at times this mutation does not occur.
One may find that licorice lovers are generally the younger members of a family. Forced to scrounge amongst the rejected candy left by older siblings, they learn an affinity for that which is readily available – licorice. As the older siblings discard the unwanted licorice, the younger relish it as a rare treat snatched from the lion’s jaw.
Naturally, there may be many other reasons someone becomes a licorice lover. A childhood in a European country, for example, might give rise to a lover. In general, Europeans seem to embrace licorice more than Americans; their more cultured taste buds are more accepting of the flavor. In such an environment, naturally those buds which respond to licorice would flourish.
Another theory is that of genetic mutation. It is entirely possible that licorice lovers are simply freaks of nature. However, this theory is widely disregarded, and I wouldn’t recommend bringing it up as dinner conversation; you just never know who might be hiding a secret love of licorice.
I’d say I like it umm then people who don’t can give me theres. :-)
September 6th, 2006 at 10:54 pmi would never deny my love of licorice. it’s an unfairly maligned treat. i never understood why the bad guy in candyland had to be lord licorice. why not lord cheaply-made-hard-candy-that-tastes-like-lime-cleanser? that’s much scarier than licorice. and i know it’s not candy, but licorice tea…ah…now that’s the stuff on a cold morning!
September 7th, 2006 at 8:48 amwhat is the basis of this study? or is this an oped piece? lol i am spending way too much time with research papers… can ya tell? lol loved this post and it totally makes sense.
September 7th, 2006 at 2:18 pm