A person with dementia may begin to develop changes in how they experience flavour. They may start to enjoy flavours they never liked before, or dislike foods they always liked.
Sometimes people with dementia make food choices that don’t match their usual beliefs or preferences. For example, a person who has been a lifelong vegetarian may want to eat meat for reasons including:
- their preference has changed
- they remember that they used to eat meat (before they became vegetarian)
- they have forgotten they don’t eat meat
- they see you or someone else eating meat and want the same, without knowing what it is.
For similar reasons, people who have other beliefs may start to want something different that they previously wouldn’t have eaten. For example, a person who does not eat pork for religious reasons may start to want pork. It can be difficult to know what to do in these situations.
