Taste...what is it?

I can feel the spicy after taste before I even bite into the dish but that does not deter me.

Perhaps I hope that this time I will be able to have that taste and enjoy it and not suffer from heartburn afterwards.

Taste is definitely a strongly developed sense in most people. We can know and recognize a taste even if we cannot put a name to it. 

The sense of taste can transport us back in time so easily – a taste of crunchy peanut butter and I am back in the school yard having recess under the gum trees at Kywong School.

With a piece of chocolate cake, any chocolate cake, in my mouth I still taste Mum’s chocolate cake - firm but moist, always with her own chocolate icing sprinkled with coconut. 

On rare occasions I taste Wendy’s wine and I go back to the bad days in my past life when I would struggle home at the end of another traumatic day and drink one or two large glasses of Merlot before I could even start cooking tea.

Sometimes smell and taste are closely linked; I can often smell something and immediately taste it. 

When I cut a lemon or even think about cutting a lemon I immediately feel the bitter taste on my tongue. 

The smell of a pizza shop makes me imagine a fresh pizza, crisp and tasty, warm and waiting to be wolfed down immediately.

Then there is taste as in “good taste” or “bad taste” – who decides whether something is tasteful or not? I think it is really only whatever the society of the day deems to be acceptable.

Another taste I love is freshly made toast with melted butter and Vegemite and the feeling of being cared for that goes with it. 

Sometimes when we are not sure of whether or not we will like something we will ask for “just a taste”.

Several weeks ago David brought us some persimmons. I had never really tried them before but was willing to try. 

I found that the taste is similar to a tomato but sweet, and the texture is similar but smoother. 

I think it’s an acquired taste but I don’t think I've acquired it yet!

12.7.13