I Taste, Therefore I Am...

At the Intentional Table, we taste. Do we ever! Every person who learns to eat, cook, or serve should also learn how to taste. Sounds easy, right? Not so fast, my dearest. Taste is an objective and a subjective thing! It’s objective because every person that is a person (despite a few unfortunate outliers) has taste buds built into the design.

However, just because you have the hardware doesn't mean you have the software. If you do have the software, then you have an appreciation of fundamentals when it comes to how your organ of perception, which is your mouth, your tongue, your nose, and your olfactory glands, all work in synchronicity to bring you what arguably could be the worst possible thing you've ever experienced or the finest.

Like all good software, it has to be trained. It’s easy to say that you like the taste of, say, wine. But wine, although chemically similar to every other wine, can be remarkably different, although it has the same basic ingredients. In this case, the winemaker's intention, geography, climate, etc., all collaborate to elevate the wine to an experience that the Intentionalist created just for you. But, a wine may taste like a rose-laced kiss to one and sour grapes to another. Thus, how you train your palate is the key. Notice that I jumped from taste buds to palate. Taste buds are engines of perception. They gladly pass raw information to your brain, which then makes decisions about whether it's agreeable to you or not based on your perception of it. However, that information can be re-examined over time and in the context of different things, such as whether you've had food paired with the wine or whether the wine is served in the appropriate stemware and at the right temperature. Many things make big differences. Every PBJ is not the same, says every mom ever.

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In the curation of a sensitive and educated palate, the goal is actually quite simple. It is mostly not to eat with a Bandan and only taste at a superficial level. It is about savoring everything to taste and comparing and contrasting that to other similar and different things. Some great Chefs have better receptors than others. Some of the great chefs have as much as two or three times the density of taste buds in their actual tongues as other people. This gives them the ability to smell and taste in an illuminated and expanded way. In culinary school and every restaurant in the world, the only way to execute a dish properly is to taste it. For the experienced palate, the taste of a dish is an absolute indicator of a successful preparation or not.

Notice that the palate of the mouth is compared to the same word in the palette of the artist. This is no coincidence. In the same way, an artist mixes colors, hues, tints, and shades to create just the perfect blend they desire to see take form on the canvas; the Chef uses the same to create that which will appear on the Intentional Table.

That little engine of perception, which is your taste buds, has the ability to detect six unique flavors. Let's take a look at these six and then see what kind of magic we can create from our pallet of possibilities!

The Six Tastes

Sweet:

•Sweet taste is cooling, moistening, soothing, tonic, building,

rejuvenating, and nourishing. It relieves thirst and burning sensations.

•It is demulcent, emollient, moistening, softening, and soothing.

•Promotes emotions of calmness, and contentment and harmonizes the mind.

• Herbs: (polysaccharides) Licorice, marshmallow, slippery elm & comfrey root

• Excess: dampening, mucus buildup, stagnation.

Who does not like sugar? Sweets are a THING, man! It’s the first thing that you taste because the receptors are out there on that part of your tongue that you stick out at me… 😛

How Sweet it Is!

Sour:

•Sour taste is warming, moistening, nourishing, and refreshing.

•It promotes digestion, enzyme secretion, saliva, and liver function. •Invigorating, awakens the mind and gives contentment to the heart

•Taste can be increased by fermentation.

• Herbs: (organic acids) rosehips, Hawthorne berries, citrus peel, and Schisandra.

•Excess: can dampen and cause too much heat (intestinal).

Pucker Power!

Salty:

• Salty taste is warming and moistening.

•Aids digestion and bowels, increases appetite, and softens tissues.

• Herbs: gotu kola, seaweeds, kelp, Irish moss, Celtic (or other mineralized) sea salt.

•Excess: aggravating, heating, and burning.

You taste salt here, in the middle of the playing field. Notice it’s back behind sweet, so it’s getting the info later!

Pungent:

•Pungent taste is heating, drying, and stimulating.

• Increases metabolism, promotes digestion, increases appetite, causes sweating, counteracts cold sensations, and promotes circulation.

• Gives clarity to the senses.

•Herbs: cayenne, ginger, black pepper, angelica, bayberry, cinnamon, rosemary, sage, prickly ash, valerian, peppermint and cardamom.

• Excess: burning causes thirst and inflammation.

My mentors used to say that pungent was the stuff that ‘stunk up the place’…

Bitter:

•Bitter taste is cooling, drying, and detoxifying.

•Reduces fevers, is anti-inflammatory and antibacterial, reduces bodily tissues, and stimulates digestion.

•Creates lightness in the mind and is sedating.

• Herbs: (alkaloids, glycosides) barberry, goldenseal, yarrow, gentian, dandelion, yellow dock, blessed thistle, artichoke.

• Excess: drying and reducing.

Not all bad! Many stomach medicines are best served cold and bitter, like jealousy! (ouch)

Astringent:

• Astringent taste is drying, cooling •Often times associated with sour

•Stops bleeding, sweating, and diarrhea and anti-inflammatory,

• Herbs: raspberry leaf, plantain, uva ursi, oak bark, and witch hazel.

• Excess: drying, constipating, water retention.

Umami - (Bonus Taste!)

•Umami taste is moistening, cooling to neutral

•Toning, nutritive, building &nourishing, savory

• Combination of meaty, mushroom, salty & glutamic acid

• Herbs: Reishi & shiitake mushrooms, nettle leaf, kombu seaweeds, shellfish

• Excess: drying, aggravating

Umani came into existence as a taste not too long ago, although it has been around for centuries. It's a Japanese word, and it essentially translates to savoriness. So if I mention something to you, like an item that you would really, really enjoy that's very savory, and you get a reaction of your mouth watering, bingo. That's your Umami. It’s technically caused by MSG, yes, the Monosodium Glutamate. As a people, we WAY overdid it within the ’80s. As it turns out, MSG is not the enemy; as a matter of fact, our own bodies create MSG for us. But like other items, we want more and more to the point of ruining the party. Think the same savoriness as Soy Sauce. You got it.

I would eat this every day if I could.

So, there you have it! You are well on the road to owning your very own palate! No longer just a taster with buds hanging out in cheeseburger town only. Get to know this remarkable gift that the body has provided you with. Some flavors, textures, and tastes will NOT be what you dig. That is OK. Be with it and learn. Experiment, play, and try strange-like from Mars combinations. You never know until you DO. Then you will see what we be talking about over heeeya.

Thanks for reading, and BTW, Spring is ON in Sonoma. The Intentional Table is going to be covered in seed starts and flowers here quickly like.

Chef