lots of food products taste boring in the west because

• we’ve been told that stuff that tastes good is probably full of additives and therefore bad for your health (think of all the chemicals!)
• and because of the same christian mindset that got us the corkflakes:

Cereal would create fortunes and create multinational companies that we still know today. But Dr. John Harvey Kellogg , the inventor of corn flakes, did not care about profits. For him, cereal was not just a health food because it would improve Americans digestion. He believed a diet centered on bland foods like cereal would lead Americans away from sin. One very specific sin: masturbation.