From mere observational notes:-

Just because human species is growing at geometric propositions

and its real hunger and wish to generate and try different tastes
remain unsaturated, it has been continuously trying to do a lot of
improvements from the cave man's consumption of raw,
unwashed and uncooked food to all sorts of biochemical and
chemical versions passing of as food.

It has swung from kuru disease acquiring cannibalism to Guru

venerating veganism to cyber crews manipulating our dinner
plates and palates.

If we bother to study food consumption habits of populations

various factors have influenced starting from regional
geologically available resources to highly sophisticated and
scientifically measured marvellous attractive and easy to pack
and transport healthy food items.

Besides, there have also been traditional, cultural, religious

dictates as well as well meaning health oriented influences on
food.
Nothing in food habits can be either homogenized for the whole
of humanity not can any type of food consumption can be
judged as the taboo or trend.

However, certain basics involving multitude of parameters have

not changed like human hunger, craving for taste, attractive
odour/ fragrance, texture, colour, ready to eat, healthy etc.

But irrespective of whichever food we may choose to consume

each individual constitution ingests it differently.

However, based on long experience over many years ( the

wisdom of elders or certain regional traditions) and multiple
scientific studies ( health benefits properly analysed and
documented) have drawn certain acceptable not enforceable
aspects of any food either raw, cooked, preserved etc.

The most important aspect being the bioavailability of various

trace minerals, vitamins, proteins, amino acids etc of the food,
probable portion of that bio availability that may be mostly
ingested by normal human beings with minimum physical and
mental activities ( let us exclude all exceptions, hyper active and
abnormal beings) end up ultimately as a major part of our staple
food.
Because both deficiencies as well as excesses cause health
issues.

In the evolutionary history of foods naturally available both

vegetable organic as well as non vegetarian foods, human beings
have initially realised that they cannot consume them raw.

So, various ways and means of processing food including

cooking ( involving various methods and processes) and value
addition as well as make certain healthy and tasty products to be
available to everyone across the globe ( though they may
basically grown and available only at few geographic locations)
have made huge strides in human history to such an extent that
almost all parts of the world in all languages have different
versions of Master Chef programs and the internet is imbued
with various YouTube channels on food preparation besides a
whole lot of magazines on food.

Certain processings enhance the bioavailability of easily

ingestible micronutrients which are extremely healthy.*

Food as such is now called as nutrition and diet; they are no

more individual choices. Nutrition and dietetics have become
academic courses and part of health care industry. Whereas,
hotels and restaurants are food industry that's why cloud
kitchens and food delivery companies earn and employ more
people.

Food habits, like mother –tongue is an important part of

everyone’s nature and how much ever one may move around
and migrate to different parts of the world, taste different food
items and even if the taste buds put into forced metamorphosis
due to inevitable life style changes, at the earliest opportunity
one’s instincts crave for the food items one had as a child as one
resorts to speaking in mother tongue when in the company of
people who can understand and communicate in that language.

If we consider these aspects, then among the 6 or 7 primary

tastes that human tongue can decipher Sweet, Salty,
Sour Spicy /pungent/hot, bitter, and astringent, umami etc.
Contrary to popular claims that food items get accepted
through brand publicity ( which may be like temporary trend or
passing cloud) what actually gets a food popular, if we choose to
observe, keenly are factors like first taste, second availability,
third affordability, fourth whether it fulfills the pangs of
hunger, then whether it can be consumed raw and if not,
whether it is ready to eat or easy to cook, all other factors like
pleasant flavors, attractive colors, shapes and sizes, easy
digestibility, health benefits, nutritional values and so on
follow suite.
For example, let us take a globally known popular food
Pizza. Though human being may want to taste new food
items they prefer to consume food items that have some
element familiarity and not totally new. For example,
anything that is wheat, corn or rice based with thousands of
permutation combinations can be served be it raw bread or
biscuits or pizzas or pastas or multiple flakes made out of
them added with nuts and dry fruits.
If we take pizza for example we will know how it
originated and why it has become popular.
It was just flat bread based, it emerged from the poor
working class known as lazzaroni who needed to be fed
with inexpensive food that would give them energy to
work. It was just flatbreads with various toppings, eaten for
any meal and sold mostly by street vendors. Now of course,
it has taken many avatars with multiple toppings and
seasonings, flavours etc.

Our knowledge of tastes and smells are extremely limited and

often restricted by the prevailing vocabulary used in common
parlance whereas, tastes and smell are senses which are around
not waiting for our vocabulary to define and classify them. So,
creative generation of tasty and healthy of food items is
limitless.
A fast reading of Chapter 8 titled Twenty-one Senses of
Chemistry, Mind and Spirit in the book The Seven Mysteries
of Life by Guy Murchie [now available on the net free] will take
us into a journey of smells and tastes of life in general through
his information packed romantic a prose.
Unfortunately, India’s indifference towards food processing
industry.
How India lost the bus of commerce and trade when it boasts of
its glorious past knowledge of herbs and their properties which
is very true.
The world must address certain chronic conditions like diabetes,
BP, blood coagulation, muscle weakness through food items
that are healthy, tasty, easily digestible and maximum absorbable
by the human body rather than through pills.
In fact, mostly, even now the medicines that most of us consume
to address these conditions are from herbs, leaves, flowers,
fruits and so on.
It is really unfortunate that while Thailand, Philippines &
Vietnam have promoted the processed agro products in USA &
Europe, India with a far superior quality and greater quantity of
agro products has been busy catering only to the local market
( which of course is too huge to be ignored) that it not only
missed the bus in capturing the processed food market but
proudly published its data of raw material exports of all sorts
like rice, chilli, veg, fruits, cotton etc.
For example, starting from coconut & its products from
Thailand, mango and its processed versions and many fruit
slices, chips from Vietnam have greater presence in USA &
Europe.
India proudly calls itself the rice bowl of the world as SA used
to call itself the Sweet bowl ( sugar cultivation). Both require
huge amounts of water, labour intensive and not so good for the
health of the modern lifestyle of many involving very less
physical activity. Of course, now some new methods of
cultivation from Israel ( less water consuming) and a few new
varieties of sugar and rice produced in India , some rice ( in very
small quantities in Japan) with Low GI have come up, but their
usage and availability both are very limited.
Metformin is derived from the plant, Galega officinalis Linn. G.
officinalis is commonly known as Goat's rue, French lilac,
Italian fitch and Professor-weed.
BP from Rauwolfia Serpentina and the politics and false claims
and credits in Science around its derivative Reserpine.
Blood thinning properties in turmeric, ginger, garlic, cinnamon
etc.
Vitamins , trace minerals and proteins in many seeds, kernels,
leafs and fruits.
Fibers in vegetables that help clean the kidney like banana stem
juice which is the best diuretic.
Coconut milk with its lauric acid is a wonder chemical that helps
gut microbes and increases LDL .
Pineapple that has both pre and probiotic . Grapes and brown
skin of ground nuts have resveratrol that helps to strengthen
the blood cells.
Jackfruit that secrets and stabilises insulin.
Ordinary curry leaves contain the best source of iron.