The hottest Taste Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Food & Drink Topics

Overlearning

Freddie deBoer • 5662 implied HN points • 17 Mar 26
🎭️ Culture Taste
  1. Being smart and skeptical can lead to overlearning: you can take a true insight and stretch it into an overly broad, confidently wrong conclusion. This feels clever but ends up as bad as blind ignorance.
  2. The audiophile example shows the point: criticizing overpriced, dubious claims about sound is valid, but some people turned that into a blanket claim that all audio quality differences are myths. In reality, reasonably priced, well-designed gear can make a clearly better listening experience than phone speakers or cheap earbuds.
  3. The remedy is self-criticism and nuance: question your own reasoning and avoid turning useful lessons into rigid rules. Recognize diminishing returns without throwing out genuine improvements.

What Are Your Guilty Displeasures?

Atlas of Wonders and Monsters • 492 implied HN points • 28 Feb 26
🎭️ Culture Taste
  1. A guilty displeasure is when you actually don't like something but feel you should because it fits your identity or social expectations.
  2. These feelings often come from your social environment, upbringing, or sunk costs in a career, creating a mismatch between your true tastes and what you think you ought to like.
  3. Being honest with yourself usually makes these feelings fade; identify them, decide whether to change or accept them, and focus on positive preferences rather than forcing dislikes into your identity.

Friendly And Hostile Analogies For Taste

Astral Codex Ten • 19615 implied HN points • 05 Dec 24
🎭️ Culture Taste
  1. Taste in art can feel very subjective, with many believing that what they like is good while critics might argue otherwise. It's confusing when different groups don't agree on what is 'good' art.
  2. Just like there are fashion rules that people follow, there are also rules for taste that might seem arbitrary. Sometimes, these rules change quickly, and what's considered 'good' or 'bad' can shift over time.
  3. People often feel a strong reaction to art or style they dislike, similar to how some think bad grammar is wrong. This suggests that our sense of taste might be more about learned reactions than fixed truths.

on slowness, taste, and living well

Mind Mine • 1454 implied HN points • 28 Mar 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Taste
  1. Developing taste is about being present and paying attention to what brings you joy.
  2. Slowness is a byproduct of care and intention, allowing for a deeper connection to oneself.
  3. Being present and moving slowly helps in making better decisions, staying focused, and correcting problems with grace.

A Matter of Taste

Don't Worry About the Vase • 1792 implied HN points • 18 Dec 24
🎭️ Culture Taste
  1. Taste can be compared to grammar, meaning that there are rules and structures to follow within different contexts. You can appreciate different kinds of taste, similar to how you can master varied languages or styles.
  2. Sometimes, taste seems like a competition to stay trendy or relevant. There are instances where people's taste can be influenced by social status or group preferences, rather than genuine appreciation.
  3. It's important to appreciate both high-quality and low-quality things. Having taste doesn't mean you should dismiss simpler pleasures; learning to enjoy a range of experiences can be enriching.
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Meditations on taste

Overthinking Everything • 314 implied HN points • 22 Nov 24
🍲 Food & Drink Taste
  1. Mindful drinking can be a unique practice. For example, focusing on the taste and feel of a bitter drink like Cynar can help you discover what you truly enjoy.
  2. Trying new foods mindfully can change how you perceive them. It’s possible to find that things you thought you liked aren’t as enjoyable when you pay close attention to their flavors.
  3. Understanding your preferences might take some experimenting. Even if you learn you don’t like something, it helps you figure out what you do enjoy.

On good taste

Erifili • 119 implied HN points • 12 Dec 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Taste
  1. Taste is subjective, and good taste is often a matter of personal preference rather than a universal standard.
  2. Good taste can be associated with qualities like skill, emotional resonance, depth, and universality in art, music, and other forms of expression.
  3. The nature of taste remains elusive, with arguments for both objectivity and subjectivity, and it often varies based on cultural influences and temporal changes.

Kamui Genshu Publicly Available

Kamui Whisky Newsletter • 157 implied HN points • 30 Apr 23
🍲 Food & Drink Taste
  1. Kamui Genshu non-aged whisky is now available for public purchase in select locations
  2. The spirit was hand-crafted with passion and challenges faced in a remote volcanic island
  3. The taste profile includes a clean mouthfeel, slightly peated finish, and hints of Rishiri's spirit

The Erosion of Taste in the Age of Mass Production

Superfluid • 92 implied HN points • 15 Jan 25
🎭️ Culture Taste
  1. Taste can't be simplified into a formula or process. It's something unique that comes from genuine understanding and experience, not just copying others.
  2. There's a danger in mass production and optimization. It leads to mediocrity and a lack of real creativity, which can hurt genuine innovation.
  3. True Taste involves seeing connections between different ideas and fields. It's about creativity and thinking deeply, not just following trends or patterns.

#52 Designers, what is "taste"?

Design Lobster • 599 implied HN points • 25 Jan 21
🪑 Design Taste
  1. Taste in design involves forming opinions based on gut instincts that can be justified intellectually.
  2. The concept of taste in design is not about elitism but about embracing and learning from the wider world.
  3. Efficient and aesthetically appealing design, like the Crinkle crankle wall, can come from revisiting basic principles with creativity.

#072 ✰ The object is the message

Objet • 58 implied HN points • 01 Jun 23
🎭️ Culture Taste
  1. Objet explores the intersection of consumerism, myth, and joy.
  2. Sublime possessions like Marine's guitar have soul and meaning.
  3. Invest in long-lasting objects and geek out on materials for maximum satisfaction.

Useful Utility: Accounting for Taste (Part 2)

reedmolbak • 19 implied HN points • 27 Jan 24
📖 Philosophy Taste
  1. Moral philosophy can be based on individual tastes rather than universal principles, leading to ethical decisions rooted in personal preferences.
  2. Conflicts in tastes are common, and ethical choices involve recognizing and balancing personal preferences, whether altruistic or self-centered.
  3. Utilitarianism suggests evaluating and prioritizing individual tastes to make decisions that best satisfy personal desires and goals.

Covid: A Sample Size of One

David Friedman’s Substack • 143 implied HN points • 26 Jan 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Taste
  1. The author shared their personal experience with testing positive for Covid and highlighted symptoms like exhaustion, coughing, and loss of appetite.
  2. The author noticed a unique symptom where tastes became unusually strong, possibly indicating a change in their sense of taste.
  3. The author reflected on a potential silver lining of their altered taste, considering that it may align them more with their family's taste preferences.

I Should Do A Ph.D. About Whisky

Cosy Moments • 25 implied HN points • 05 Dec 24
🍲 Food & Drink Taste
  1. Some people reacted harshly to a Ph.D. thesis about the politics of smell, showing how opinions about academic topics can lead to controversy. It highlights the tensions in academia around what is considered valuable research.
  2. The relationship between our body and the world is important; eating and drinking connect us to our experiences and surroundings. In today's fast-paced life, people often forget this connection.
  3. Whisky can offer comfort and reflection during difficult times, and it represents a deeper connection between emotions, history, and enjoyment. It's seen as a drink for those who seek more profound experiences.

Taste games

DYNOMIGHT INTERNET NEWSLETTER • 2 HN points • 15 Feb 24
🎭️ Culture Taste
  1. Our tastes are influenced by our social context and cultural knowledge, often unconsciously driven by benefits and social hierarchy.
  2. People gravitate towards different types of games based on their mix of economic and cultural capital.
  3. Taste games, like the choices we make in food, fashion, and art, are deeply intertwined with social status, class, and unconscious influences.

#7: AI Creates Returns to Taste

Loeber on Substack • 3 HN points • 29 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Taste
  1. Advances in AI are empowering creators in various fields.
  2. In creative work, experimentation, curation, and rapid iteration are often more effective than perfectionism.
  3. Generative AI tools help creators shorten creative cycles, compress administrative chains, and emphasize the importance of taste.

The Little Fires of Taste

The Pamplet • 2 HN points • 02 May 23
🎭️ Culture Taste
  1. Having authentic taste means knowing what you like and what you don't like despite external influences.
  2. Developing taste is a continuous journey of self-discovery and refinement influenced by personal experiences and exposure to others.
  3. Taste is not about high or low categories; it's about expressing what you genuinely like, free from pretense or societal expectations.