Fig. 8

One of the signs presented at the 1931 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science held in New Orleans. The poster relates to people’s differing sensitivity to bitter-tasting PTC crystals (these differences had just been discovered by scientists). The idea that Republicans would be more likely to be supertasters certainly fits with the president Bushes well-publicized dislike of bitter-tasting cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli. Obama, by contrast, is a Democrat and loves broccoli! (Though, as far as I can tell, this was just a playful suggestion rather than a claim based on any kind of evidential basis; see Blakeslee AF, Fox AL (1932). Our different taste worlds: P. T. C. as a demonstration of genetic differences in taste. Journal of Heredity, 23, 97-107; Spence C (2013). The supertaster who researches supertasters. The BPS Research Digest, http://www.bps-research-digest.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/day-4-of-digest-super-week-supertaster.html.)