I’m not talking about artistic, I mean physical taste?
Yes for me, and I’m a non-smoker. All those nasty fermented things or ripened cheeses I choked on as a kid? I love them now!
Things I loved as a kid now taste boring.
My taste buds are definitely dying off. All flavors are a bit more blah than they used to be.
However, I can now go up to “5” at the Thai restaurant (on a scale of 1 to 10.) I’m nowhere near as much of a pepper wimp as I used to be.
I’m 68, and things I’ve always loved are now too sweet, too salty, too sour, etc. My father was the opposite; he totally lost his sense of taste, and complained that everything was too bland.
Medications I have to take have mucked up my taste. Especially dairy, tastes metallic.
This is very interesting. I thought it was just me. I actually thought just about everything I liked had changed their recipes. Very little tastes to me like it used to - I was starting to sound like a conspiracy theorist or something. 
I was told a long time ago that children are more sensitive to bitter tastes, and the sensitivity wanes as they get older. Has anyone else heard this? It would nice to have cite.
Lots of things I liked as a kid would make me gag now
Things I wouldn’t touch as a kid I love now
But even as an adult I’ve stopped liking some things and started liking others. Like sauerkraut, always hated it and now I like it although only in small amounts. I loved pizza and not anymore. Every now and again I’ll want a slice but for the most part I can leave it.
I definitely noticed a decreasing sweet tooth as I got older. (Or at least a decreasing desire for pure sugar, anyway.)
Yes, ones taste buds die off, I believe, as one ages. So you put more hot sauce on food, stuff like that. Which is why Nexium and indigestion and heartburn pills are so heavily marketed to senior citizens.
Nerves in the nose tend to whither, less mucus is produced in the nose, taste buds atrophy (get smaller) and less saliva is produced.These physical changes often lead to a lessened sense of taste, and sweet goes first, followed by salt. (Strangely, the human response seems to be to avoid the sweets when our taste for them goes, but to increase the salt when our ability to sense it leaves. Not sure why, maybe just because salt is cheap and you can sprinkle it on just about anything; if you put enough salt on food, you can taste it again.)
Some medications and of course smoking, can also alter or dull your sense of taste.
Even your vision tends to decline, which can make food less appetizing.
Getting old is not for wimps.
But even before these changes (which don’t usually begin until after age 60) I’ve found that my tastes have changed as I’ve aged. I haven’t lost the taste for things I liked as a kid (Spaghetti-O’s are still an occasional treat) but I’ve gained the taste for many things I couldn’t enjoy even as a young adult. Zucchini finally tasted good just this year (39). I keep waiting for lima beans to be tasty, but so far, no luck. I keep trying them, though, and other things I don’t like, because apparently I’m not lying to my kids when I tell them sometimes we like things when we’re older.
Sweet potatoes could have been used as an emetic for me when I was a kid. They really tasted that bad. Now they still taste bad, but they don’t make me retch. Brussels sprouts are still as bad as ever. I still don’t like rye bread because of the caraway- bread shouldn’t taste so perfumey.
I was a smoker for about 17 years, but I never noticed a change in how things tasted when I quit 22 years ago.
I do tend to avoid spicy now. I was never all that up for it to begin with, but once the Thais hear you say you can eat spicy, then they’ll fix it spicier than even they can stand just to see your reaction. Fuck that! Nowadays I prefer milder.
But it’s a myth that all Thais like to or even can eat spicy. I’ve known many who simply don’t like it. The wife will eat it a little spicy but not very. My personal observation is it seems to be those Thais who are ethnically Chinese who avoid spicy the most.
No question! I wouldn’t have touched buttermilk or gorgonzola cheese when I was a kid, and I can’t handle pixie sticks and white bread anymore now.
I didn’t start to love spicy food until the last few years or so, and I’m in my 30s. I used to order ‘mild’, now I order the hottest or next-to-hottest level in restaurants, and at home I add Sriracha sauce to most savory dishes.