Why does my nearly 2 year old cat like these odd things?

He doesn't try to eat the potato, it's just if I cut them up to make mashed potatoes and I drop one, he runs over to lick it. He also likes the smell of carrots. I was packing out the groceries the other day, and he was hugging the bag of carrots and sniffing them while rolling around. It was like I gave him catnip! He drinks juice too, only fruit punch though. I used to leave a few out on the table to thaw out(it was summer) and the next morning, all i saw were empty cat-tooth punctured boxes and barely any juice puddles on the table. But now we keep them in the fridge so no more for him. Some one told me that cats don't have the taste buds for "sweet", so why does he like juice? Other than that, he's such a square. he only eats dry food, never wet or expensive stuff and doesn't try to eat chicken bones like my kitten(he eats everything we drop. food or not). What's up with him?