taste

Taste is a sense that most of the world is privileged to have. Often associated with consuming food, taste however is not just an experience with food but with any other aspect of life. Tasting food nonetheless does form many of the experiences that we have in life. Taste is essential in truly enjoying the food that we eat and being able to appreciate the food, the preparation, and the ambiance of the area. Though we taste with our tongue where we are eating plays a big part in how much we actually taste and savor the flavors of what we eat rather than simply inhaling or scarfing down a burger at a fast food joint. Taking the time to enjoy the people that you are eating with, and if not, at least the actual food that you are consuming really plays into the taste that you receive from the food. Arlene Avakin describes her American relatives as not knowing “the taste of their own tongues” because so often in American we speed through our meals not even realizing what we are eating let alone taking time to taste everything. Class, and in some ways race, often determines the taste that people have because of the food that they often eat. Spending lots of time eating at fast food restaurants and eating food out of cardboard boxes people of lower classes tend to lose any of the flavor that is left in foods by rushing through everything that they eat. We are more likely to find people of an upper class status who have a more developed sense of taste because of the time set aside specifically for dining and enjoying the food that is eaten and the people who they are with. When a person is able to appreciate what they are eating they are more likely to have an appreciation for who made the food and who they are eating it with, if anyone, and are more likely to be able to taste all the different flavors. Everyone has their own tastes that they enjoy and appreciate but often these tastes are shaped by the environment around you and what you have had the opportunity to experience.