The taste system and food-seeking behaviors are primarily hardwired for nutrient acquisition but are also amenable to change.

“The taste system, and this general system of seeking particular foods, similarly is hard-wired to obtain certain types of nutrients. It tends to like sweet things. Most children naturally like sweet things, some more than others. But naturally, most people from childhood onward don't particularly crave very bitter substances. Maybe mildly bitter, but not very bitter. So there's some hard-wiring of preference, but there's also some soft-wiring in the system that allows it to change.”