Philosophy
There is no doubt that taste is not directly accessed, but is influenced by all sorts of other factors. The question is how sensitive taste really is to that which has nothing to do with chemistry, physics, or biology. My kids, like all kids, insist that aspects of the food that adults deem irrelevant to taste, indeed consider ridiculous, are in fact crucial. Does (or can) a sandwich really taste different if it is cut into two rectangles as opposed to two triangles or four squares? Does the corn on the cob taste different from the same corn off the cob? Isn't this why restaurants garnish meals? How much of taste is a function of chemical reactions on the tongue and how much of it is psychologically constructed?
- The Meanings Of Food
Doing the dishes last night, it struck me how differently different people see food. To TheWife, for example, food is medicine. The purpose of eating is to change the body's chemistry and cooking is an apothecary's art, preparing something to...
- Artificial Flavors
TheWife and I worked hard to keep the kids eating real food as long as we can before the larger cultural influences started exerting their unhealthy pressures. The less short of the short people had a class camping trip and on it, she tried soda. Come...
- The Objectivity Of Grades
I was going to respond to the ongoing thread in yesterday's post, but thought that the argument deserved its own space in order to be thorough. The claim has been put forward and agreed to that grades on work like papers is subjective and thereby...
- A Burp Is Spontaneous. A Burp Is Not Romantic.
A friend asked the other day, "What makes something romantic?" and I thought it would be a good question to play with here. Are there necessary and sufficient conditions? Is it purely subjective? There are certain things that will make almost anyone go...
- Orville Redenbacher...colonel Of The Kernel
Orville Redenbacher July 16th, 1907 to September 19th, 1995 Orville Redenbacher was an "American agronomist and popcorn business founder, born in Brazil, Ind., Popcorn King whose devotion to creating and promoting a fluffier, tastier popcorn turned him...
Philosophy
How Contextual Is Taste?
There is no doubt that taste is not directly accessed, but is influenced by all sorts of other factors. The question is how sensitive taste really is to that which has nothing to do with chemistry, physics, or biology. My kids, like all kids, insist that aspects of the food that adults deem irrelevant to taste, indeed consider ridiculous, are in fact crucial. Does (or can) a sandwich really taste different if it is cut into two rectangles as opposed to two triangles or four squares? Does the corn on the cob taste different from the same corn off the cob? Isn't this why restaurants garnish meals? How much of taste is a function of chemical reactions on the tongue and how much of it is psychologically constructed?
- The Meanings Of Food
Doing the dishes last night, it struck me how differently different people see food. To TheWife, for example, food is medicine. The purpose of eating is to change the body's chemistry and cooking is an apothecary's art, preparing something to...
- Artificial Flavors
TheWife and I worked hard to keep the kids eating real food as long as we can before the larger cultural influences started exerting their unhealthy pressures. The less short of the short people had a class camping trip and on it, she tried soda. Come...
- The Objectivity Of Grades
I was going to respond to the ongoing thread in yesterday's post, but thought that the argument deserved its own space in order to be thorough. The claim has been put forward and agreed to that grades on work like papers is subjective and thereby...
- A Burp Is Spontaneous. A Burp Is Not Romantic.
A friend asked the other day, "What makes something romantic?" and I thought it would be a good question to play with here. Are there necessary and sufficient conditions? Is it purely subjective? There are certain things that will make almost anyone go...
- Orville Redenbacher...colonel Of The Kernel
Orville Redenbacher July 16th, 1907 to September 19th, 1995 Orville Redenbacher was an "American agronomist and popcorn business founder, born in Brazil, Ind., Popcorn King whose devotion to creating and promoting a fluffier, tastier popcorn turned him...