A Matter of Taste

12/4/10

One of the very first mind-blowing thoughts many of us are faced with is the idea that people may not experience color the same way. What if I see red and you see green? We both know to call it red, but there's no way to know what you're experiencing.

But it occurred to me today that the same kind of thing may well apply to the sense of taste. We all know that there are people who don't like sweets, who can't stand spicy food, and who have no desire for sour, but what if my experience of sweet is different from yours? What if the reason you don't l-o-o-o-o-o-ve cake like I do is that it tastes very different to each of us?

This line of thought stems from my sister; I'm fascinated by her taste in food. For as long as I can remember she has craved acidic things: lemons, tomatoes, mustard, etc. That's her thing and you can taste it in the food she makes. It's good food, but it's nothing I'd ever crave. Is that why she's thin? Does she lack the taste buds that allow her to enjoy the foods that have me completely hooked?

I hate the taste of alcohol, which is probably one reason that I'm in no danger of becoming an alcoholic. Yet there are people who not only love the taste of alcohol but their bodies frequently tell them that they need it.

My cravings run sweet, for the most part. I almost can't get enough sugar, and I have a particular weakness for chocolate. Thin people might look at me and say, "Why don't you just have a little of it then? After a little of it, you can't possibly still enjoy it the same way, right?" Nope, I could enjoy every bite of a pound of chocolate. Then again, there are people who could enjoy two pounds, so maybe I should count my blessings.

What if Dawne has been told that she should love chocolate, so she knows how she's supposed to feel about it, but honestly doesn't think it's all that great? What if my dad tastes steak and thinks it's . . . fine. Neither of them knows that they're not getting the same experience I am, because they've never known how I experience those foods. I honestly wonder if salted rutabaga is as good to my dad as a hamburger is to me. What if my okay is their amazing? What if my taste buds are able to transmit experiences they'll never know?

This is getting into familiar territory, of course: people have different cravings, and something makes some of us unable to stop. Science continues to uncover clues that indicate that the reasons are biological, and that we're not just undisciplined lazy slobs. But that's another (though related) story.

There's a really bad TV show called "Drop Dead Diva" that I'll admit to watching sometimes. A thin, beautiful model dies and comes back--memories in tact--as a fat female lawyer. For reasons beyond her understanding she now has cravings she's never had before.

That could be a cop-out, and it was necessary for the plot--having the lawyer get thin would ruin the premise of the show--but it raises some interesting questions about why we are who we are, and why we crave what we crave. Don't you think?