Acorns are incredibly high in tannins (the very word tannin comes from the Latin for oak bark), and ingestion of large amounts of tannins will irritate the stomach, cause vomiting, etc. so it is vital that acorns are prepared properly to make them safe for human consumption. I'd guess that many peasants wouldn't have known this, especially if they came from regions which didn't have any traditions around making acorns safe, and that may be a simpler explanation for why they had a reputation as a food of last resort in times of famine - better to eat something that will make you a bit sick but keep you alive rather than eat nothing at all and starve to death.
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Years ago my daughter read about eating acorns. We saved a bunch, went through the leaching process, ground them to flour and had pancakes. Blech. It still goes on my “last resort” list.
The taste should be pretty mild if they're prepared properly. You need to boil repeatedly and keep replacing the water until they stop tasting bitter. Some species of oak are better than others.
There are lots of foraged foods that require more preparation than just regular cooking. I wouldn't be surprised if someone, either upon tasting the bitterness, or getting sick just one time, figured that they should try soaking, or double boiling, or some other technique that they probably have used for other foods.
It depends on the acorn. Most acorns are high in tannins, which makes them so bitter that it would take a lot of determination to poison ones self on them. But there are varieties of oak that have acorns so low in tannins that they can be eaten with little to no processing.
Tannins are unpleasant in high concentrations and produce sensations ranging from dry mouth to burning to stomachache. Leeching the tannins out is the only way to make acorns palatable. Wheat is easy to prepare by contrast - simply grind it up and it's ready to use.