I am with you and I hate the stuff. I also cannot stand the taste of salt either. I do bake cookies and stuff with salt, only because I'm scared it'll mess it up if I don't use it.
I never used to have grooves in my tongue, but I sure do now and as I get older, they get deeper. When I was younger I could eat not only black pepper, but lots and lots of salsa, hot peppers, even hot sauce at a chinese restaurant. Not anymore. I will not eat food at restaurants unless I'm absolutely sure it won't have pepper on it. My DH uses salt and pepper so much I can't imagine that he actually knows what his food is supposed to taste like.