Date of Award
6-26-2026
Date Published
August 2026
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Food Studies
Advisor(s)
Anne Bellows
Keywords
Culinary Literacy;Gender;Kitchen Literacy;Palate Development;Pleasure;Taste
Subject Categories
Geography | Social and Behavioral Sciences
Abstract
This thesis interrogates how tastes and palates develop across a lifespan through the lens of America’s latchkey generation. As an analytic, this generation—raised amid a rising availability of ultra processed foods, declining culinary skill transfer, and an uptick in both divorce rates and women in the workforce—is crucial for understanding the palate as a site where corporate capture and individual agency intersect. It asks: What broadens palate development, what limits it, and what conditions support or hinder its evolution over time? How might the reintroduction of culinary literacy broaden palate development and how do gender and pleasure play a role in both agency and resistance? Using a mixed-methods design, this study draws on a survey of fifty-four adults (born 1965–1996) recruited at two Syracuse, NY cooperative markets, with ten in-depth interviews and conversations with four experts across food policy, nutrition, and the culinary professions. Findings show that nearly all participants relied heavily on ultra-processed and convenience foods during adolescence, a pattern tethered more so to parental work hours than household income. Dominant culinary influence in high school, according to participants, was via their mothers though skill transfer was largely passive and observational. In adulthood, culinary confidence is driven largely by social media, self-teaching, and social relationships, with most participants shifting toward whole-food preparation motivated primarily by pleasure and agency rather than nutritional concerns. Additional findings reveal that domestic food labor remains disproportionately assigned to women, with female participants now bearing both financial and culinary household responsibilities. Ultimately, kitchen literacy functions as a form of sovereignty and resistance to corporate co-optation of the palate, but individual education alone cannot substitute for structural change. Food system regulation, equitable access, and a degendering of care work are needed to support agency in both individual and collective palate development.
Access
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Recommended Citation
Reagan, Gabrielle, "From Hot Dog Soup to Wine Pairing: Exploring Taste & Palate Development Through America's Latchkey Generation" (2026). Theses - ALL. 1060.
https://surface.syr.edu/thesis/1060
