Tastes like chicken

I remember being in a restaurant once where oysters were sold according to the bay in which they were harvested.  Like I would or could ever tell the difference.  It's like selling vodka at dramatically different price points based on perceptions of taste.  Vodka is tasteless.  Yet we profess to be able to discriminate qualitative differences in all manners of food, yet taste test after taste test demonstrate that this is not the case.

I've tested groups in their ability to discriminate quality or brand between beers, and while there is a very small group of "aficionados," the vast majority cannot tell the difference between brands, premium and economy, regular and light, etc.  Similarly, it is well documented that wine ratings are little more than whimsy with virtually no consensus among so-called experts, yet these ratings dramatically drive sales of brands and entire vintages.  Tests also show that when blindfolded, people usually cannot tell the difference between most fruits and vegetables.  It seems that a good deal of taste is vision.  And memory, and mind, and feel, and all manner of things beyond what the sensory receptors for taste and smell are telling us.  It used to be so simple.  Is it sugary, is it familiar, does it look good?  

But then one day we started to put mustard instead of ketchup on hot dogs, and the world changed.