Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Refined Palate

I've become a bit of a foodie lately. Not because I fancy myself a home chef or anything, but because I've become addicted to food shows! Love 'em! Love watching food being selected, love watching ideas form, love watching the chopping and dicing, love hearing the description of how fragrant everything is as it cooks, and the piece de resistance! I love hearing how wonderful it tastes as the host rolls his/her eyes in the back of their head and enjoys.

Starting on Monday I got me some more Slim Fast. Yes, I know I talk about it way too much. But stay with me here. I got my SF and made my morning smoothie and....hmmm.....disappointing. What? I've been drinking that thing for almost 2 years and have loved it. I wondered to myself if SF had adjusted the recipe ever so slightly so that my own smoothie recipe was "off." I wondered again on Tuesday. And then this morning, I was making the smoothie the same way I always make it when it dawned on me that I had not been the person to fetch the SF from the shelf on shopping day. It was H. So.....then I thought, I wonder if H. got Chocolate Royale instead of Milk Chocolate?

And, yes indeedy, that is EXACTLY what happened. Well, even though I was a tad perturbed, the biggest sensation I got was satisfaction. Yes, satisfied that my palate was refined enough to know the difference between Chocolate Royale and Milk Chocolate. And people, go with Milk Chocolate when buying SF powder, I swear by it!

Now, does the sussing out of the ever so slight difference in taste/texture on SF mean I have a refined palate?

Why do we say our palate is refined anyway? The palate is the roof of the mouth. The roof of all places. Is that where we taste our food? Clearly foodies from early on may have had superior tastebuds, but did not have a great command of the English language. I guess saying "refined tastebuds" doesn't sound as fancy? But let me tell you, tastebud sounds totally great compared to the real name of tastebuds. Are you ready?

There are four types of tastebuds: fungiform papillae, filiform papillae, foliate papillae, and circumvallate papillae.

Drum roll please......I indeed have refined papillae! Which type? I'm gonna go with the fungiform papillae, just because it sounds so yummy!

Ok, so my palate isn't refined. Because if it was I would like things like shrimp, lobster, and crab legs, right?

But, on the other hand, I despise places like Applebee's.

There must be some hope for me yet!

1 comment:

Brittany said...

oh man! this post hit home! i have always loved watching food shows and i can remember being as young as six and watching them on PBS. then when i got older it was "great chefs" on who knows what channel (i had to use the giant satellite to retrieve the station). i loved this show! and now of course, there's the food network for all my food-watching needs. my pick now is alton brown. corny but informative.

oh, and i agree, applebees is nasty. as is TGIFs and ruby tuesdays, and olive garden, and so many more. wyatt's family calls me a food snob - in a endearing kind of way.