@liuzhou, I'm guessing (and hoping) that TFTC was referring to a stereotype of a subgroup of older adults, one that's not without some justification; I remember CaliPoutine's topic about cooking for such folks. @liuzhou also is correct that earlier tendencies will usually continue into old age, with modifications if necessary. (For me, sad to say, it's cutting way back on the number of Scoville units I ingest.) My guess is that we're dealing with a bimodal distribution that to some extent reflects a similar distribution among non-older adults. People who are unadventurous, limited eaters tend to cluster around one mode; those who are more open and adventurous cluster around the other.