The story behind
Acquired Taste

Acquired Taste was built because I love food and because I realized how small my food world still was.

Growing up, what we eat is shaped by habit. We eat what our parents cook, go to familiar restaurants, and return to the same flavors again and again. Even as adults, that pattern rarely changes. Despite endless options around us, most meals come from the same rotation.

I found myself in that exact cycle. I wanted to try new food, expand my palate, and experience more of what the world has to offer. Yet most of the time, I was still eating the same meals or ordering from the same menus. Not because there was nothing else to explore, but because there was no meaningful way to explore it.

Food is more than taste. It carries history, tradition, and cultural meaning. A single holiday like Christmas can be celebrated across many countries, yet the foods used to celebrate it are completely different. Each dish tells a story about place, people, and values.

Food also brings people together. Across cultures and borders, it creates moments of connection through family meals, gatherings with friends, celebrations, and everyday rituals centered around the table.

I also learned that taste is not fixed. Growing up, I did not like coffee, spicy food, scallions, ginger, or eggplant. Today, I enjoy all of them. Some foods take time, context, and repeat experiences before they are appreciated. That process is part of what makes food meaningful.

Today, discovery is often driven by what goes viral. New dishes are tried because they trend online or because a restaurant opens nearby. That kind of discovery favors popularity over meaning and often overlooks comfort foods, regional staples, and everyday meals people grow up with.

Living in the New York metro area, one of the most diverse places in the world, I still realized how narrow my exposure to food had been. Even within Chinese cuisine alone, dim sum and dumplings dominate the conversation, while countless everyday dishes remain unfamiliar.

Acquired Taste was created to open that world. It helps people intentionally explore food beyond popularity, understand why dishes are made the way they are, and build a personal journey shaped by experience.

Acquired Taste is a food and culture exploration platform designed to grow with the user.

It helps people discover new foods, learn the cultural context behind them, and log meaningful experiences whether they are cooking at home, dining out, or traveling.

Over time, Acquired Taste becomes a living record of how someone’s palate evolves. Discovering a love for an ingredient like ube can lead to exploring related foods, cuisines, and flavor profiles in ways most food apps do not support today.

The long term vision is a personal food companion that remembers experiences, encourages curiosity, and connects taste to culture and memory.

Acquired Taste was founded by Jackson Eng, a product leader with over a decade of experience building consumer and B2B platforms across wellness, fintech, real estate, and AI driven products.

Jackson has led product strategy and execution for startups and high growth companies, launching mobile apps used by millions, building personalization systems that improved retention, and scaling platforms from early concepts to real world adoption.

Acquired Taste brings together that product discipline with a personal passion for food, culture, and exploration. It is built intentionally by the founder with a focus on long term value and thoughtful growth.