Bitters, Chinotto & Campari

They say that humans can distinguish between seven basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, astringent, pungent, umami (savoury, fermented or aged) and bitter.
Here in trad-Western countries we tend to get a lot of sweet, salty and savoury, less of sour, astringent and pungent, and hardly any bitter. When we do taste bitter, we don't like it because we're not used to it. But tasting bitter is a good thing: it trains the tastebuds to identify different nuances of flavour and to better appreciate the other basic tastes in their turn.

In Italy and France, people are much more open to bitter tastes than we are. They grow up with it, and experience it as just another part of wide eating.
I remember as a young, sweet, f00dly-innocent thing in Languedoc in 1998, being taken to the great-grandmother's house in Arles for lunch. The great-grandmother had spent all morning cooking up a storm on her rickety old gas stove from the 1970s. The main course, as I recall, was chicken pieces baked in a tomato sauce, and delicious it was too.
But the big memory is of tasting roast endives, stuffed with ham and bocconcini. They were like floppy greeny-grey oval things, with stringy bits, and oozing with hammy and cheesy goodness. I thought they were revolting and I could hardly eat them. But the family devoured them, singing the great-grandmother's praises through every mouthful. "How could they like anything so bloody bitter?" was my thought. "They must be faking it to stay in the will".

(The great-grandmother also brought out some fried eggplant, in olive oil, sun-dried tomato and garlic. The eggplant slices were so soft and flavourful that we spread them on baguette slices like tapenade. I thought they were the best thing ever and to this day I wish I had asked that great-grandmother how she did it. I've never been able to get them quite right. Oh well. Things always taste better in your memory.)

Since then I've tried (with varying success) to incorporate more bitter tastes into my diet. I still don't really like endives though.

So what are the foods that taste bitter?

Green leafies like endive, brussels sprouts, radicchio, spinach, kale, escarole or frisee
Compounds like bitter dark chocolate (at least 70%)
Liquids like beer, tea, coffee, tonic water (containing quinine) and vinegar
Fruits and vegetables like bitter gourd, grapefruit and chinotto
Liqueurs like Campari, vermouth, amari and Angostura bitters

San Pellegrino (owned by Nestle...groan) makes a sparkling chinotto drink. It's a good way to get your bitters into you.
Campari and soda is the taste of a classic Italian summer and also looks fabulous on your table: a soft glowing red, ice cubes gently chinking. Megnut has a feature on this and more classic Italian summer drinks.