Taste is personal, and a concept that I never thought much about when I was a child. What seemed more important than the taste of the food was my mother’s directive to eat what was put in front of me, regardless of whether or not I liked it. For me, eating the food (and listening to my mother) was more important than whether or not I enjoyed the taste of it.
That’s not to say the food on our table was bad, because overall I liked nearly everything that was put on the table. But, there were a few things that were prepared I just didn’t like – fish, for example. Lake Erie fish. And to this day, I am not much of a seafood eater – or is that a ‘lake-food’ eater – because I like shellfish.
Eventually I got a job in the food industry, which allowed me to expand my palate. I learned to appreciate the flavors I had not previously experienced. I moved from Kraft Singles to wedges of Stilton and Roquefort. I transitioned from Wesson Oil to olive oil, from Chef Boyardee – to making homemade pasta. I expanded from meat, potatoes and veggies on the plate every night to a tapas of ingredients and small bites, homemade dressings and sauces, and an overall upgrade to the offerings on my table. The driver for all these changes, was my opportunity to ‘taste’ something different; to taste something more flavorful, to taste something with various flavor notes using all my senses – and the appreciation that came with that.
I vividly remember the time when it all clicked for me.
I credit my expanding palate to a visit with the head of The Stilton Cheese Makers’ Association in the county of Leicestershire. Arriving at Long Clawson Dairy, I divulged to him that I was not a fan of blue cheese, the taste being too strong for my liking. He smiled and assured me that by the time I left that day, I would be a fan of Stilton.
He was correct in his assertion, and that visit, when I learned the story behind Stilton cheese, took the time to slow down and learn about what I was tasting (and to appreciate it), brought me to my current level of cheese enjoyment.
But the adventure didn’t end there – in fact, it’s been a delicious multi-decade adventure.
My Recent Tasting Adventures
Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in a Tasting in The Dark & Prosecco DOC adventure, during which Dr. Hoby Wedler opened the doors to the world of wine aromas and sensations by developing a truly blindfolded wine tasting experience.
Dr. Wedler, chemist, entrepreneur and sensory expert, has been completely blind since birth. In 2016 he earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from UC Davis and in 2011 he developed Tasting in the Dark, in collaboration with Francis Ford Coppola, leveraging his highly-trained palate and acute sensory insight of his surroundings, to create customized tasting experiences applied to a variety of projects.
Throughout the event, I experienced the diverse expressions of Prosecco DOC through a custom Multi-Sensory Kit developed by Emotitech and designed especially for this experience, providing me with an innovative approach to wine tasting and Prosecco DOC. The kit allowed me to integrate tactile and olfactory elements, providing me an unique and deeper perspective on Prosecco DOC distinctive qualities.
What this adventure provided me was a greater understanding of the broad spectrum of flavors found in various Prosecco DOC wines. Beyond Prosecco, this experience reminded me to slow down and pay attention to, as he explained it, “the raw art of flavor, aroma and texture which come together on their own to form a language.”
Too often when I’m cooking or eating a meal, my focus is on the prevalent sense – the one that hits me first, such as the aroma of coffee being brewed, the crunch of potato chips as I eat them, the creaminess of a chocolate mousse. These first impressions bring forth expectations. And sometimes these expectations keep me from paying too much attention to my other senses. With the blindfold on, I removed the visual distractions (and clues it would give me to what I was tasting), and learned to integrate other senses into my tasting experience.
Then Came Olive Oil
A few weeks later, I took my senses on another tasting adventure. This time it was with my colleague and friend, Liz, whom I met many years ago when I served as editor of a leading magazine for the specialty food and kitchenware trade. Then she was a buyer for major retailers, and in addition to her four decades of international business experience, Liz boasts over 200 hours in olive oil sensory evaluation training, olive milling instruction, and related master classes around the world.
She invited me to Corning, CA to walk through the olive groves, chat with her about her American Olive Farmer endeavors and the delicious Lucero Olive Oil brand she has rebranded. It truly was an eye-opening visit, as I soaked in her expertise, and felt the love and passion she had for her work.
Once back at my home, I sat down with her again. This time it was a zoom meeting, and she took me through the basics of tasting olive oil – and I had my full senses available to me this time. A simple tasting walk-through, of both the Arbequina and Ascolano varieties she offers, and I was once-again excited about tuning in to all of my senses before, during and after tasting.
Now, most of you probably won’t blindfold yourself to taste your Prosecco, or get yourself a tasting wheel and olive cups to conduct your olive oil tasting, but it’s a reminder that we should all reacquaint ourselves with the full flavor of food. Both adventures offered me the opportunity to slow down a bit and pay attention to all of my senses, and to enjoy how each plays a part in the overall experience.
In the end, it is my assertion that if we take the time to slow down and taste something, to appreciate all the flavors that it has to offer, then we can truly appreciate the food we eat. Perhaps when we do, we’ll retrain our senses to appreciate an expanse of flavors, growing our appreciation for the beauty of whole foods and the enjoyable experience associated with the meal.
Try some Stilton
Close your eyes and taste some Prosecco DOC
Pay attention to the flavor notes of your olive oil
Let’s create wonderful new tasting adventures in our kitchens.
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