One thing that people have judged me for my entire adult life is having an unsophisticated palate. For many kinds of food, I'm perfectly happy to eat eat cheap, processed, commercial convenience foods. I can enjoy a meal at a chain restaurant. I can enjoy a meal at a fast food restaurant. I can enjoy some junk food scarfed down from a vending machine.
People have always talked about this as though it's Less Than, but I recently realized: it's extremely convenient!
For example, one of the things the foodies in my life talk about is Really Good Pasta. You haven't lived until you've had Really Good Pasta!
I have never once in my life had really good pasta, by which I mean pasta that is noticeably better than other pasta.
But I have had countless pasta dishes that made me happy, most of which were prepared by my own hand. I can think of only one or two times in my whole entire life I haven't enjoyed pasta. (In one case, the sauce was runny like water. In another case, I was having a reflux flare-up and it adhered to the wall of my esophagus and stayed there for a couple of hours.)
Some people say fresh, homemade pasta is way better than the pasta you buy in a box. I've tried fresh, homemade pasta with fresh, homemade sauce and fresh cheese. It was delicious! I've also tried pasta you buy in a box with sauce you buy in a jar and the shakey cheese you buy in a can. It was delicious! I've also tried just-add-water instant kraft dinner knockoff. It was delicious! Yes, I can perceive the difference, and they all delight me!
One area where I do have a sophisticated palate is fruit. I only enjoy certain varietals of certain fruits, and I only enjoy local fruit, which certainly makes life harder given that I live in an area with a short growing season!
I love apples, I eat multiple apples every day, and if someone who doesn't know my very specific preferences gave me an apple, I'd probably be unhappy.
In-season Ontario peaches are my favourite fruit in the world, and every time I buy a basket of in-season Ontario peaches, it contains at least one peach that makes me unhappy.
I love fresh, local, in-season strawberries, but they only make me happy for a couple of weeks a year.
This is not actually a good thing! It would be far more convenient if any piece of fruit that crossed my path made me happy. However, my tastes in fruit are sophisticated and nuanced. I only like the very best, and I'm less happy for it.
I'm glad I don't experience pasta the same way!
3 comments:
Analogy to knowing less about art forms so enjoying it more often, or knowing more about an art form so enjoying fewer instances of it. Theatre, film, music, books. It works for almost everything.
The unsophisticated palette is great for wine drinkers, too. Much less expensive!
Wine works that way for me too! I recently did an experiment to see what is the cheapest wine I can drink without feeling negatively about it, and it turns out I take no issue with the cheapest sherry available at the LCBO (which is also the cheapest beverage per standard drink at the LCBO.) It's not especially delicious, but I have no problem drinking it. (In fact, sometimes it's a problem for me when wine is especially delicious, because I want to guzzle it all down like water.)
Your point about art is good too. I wish comedy worked that way for me. It would be extremely convenient to be able to belly laugh at anything.
I'm envious of people who find everything funny. And people who can drink such cheap wine!
Wine is probably the one thing that doesn't work that way for me. I can't drink the very cheapest wine (anymore), but I'm glad I can enjoy wine in the $13-15/bottle range.
For most food, I'm like you are about peaches and apples. But I also distinguish between every day eating at home and special meals at a restaurant. Pasta is the perfect example. I've had incredible homemade pasta, and I can immediately taste the difference -- but I still make, eat, and enjoy ordinary pasta from a box.
But NOT fruits and vegetables. If those aren't really good, why bother.
Post a Comment