Saturday, February 20, 2010

The unsophisticated palate

I am an efficient eater, I don't dilly-dally during meal time or play with my food instead when a plate is put in front of me I do what comes natural and eat the food on it. I eat so quickly that most people are jaw-dropped to see my empty plate before they have picked up their fork. It's not that I don't enjoy food or that I'm constantly in a rush but somehow it upsets most of everybody I eat with. What they see as haste, I see as efficiency
What I never understand is why it bothers somebody else at what rate I chew, I understand there are many out there who can savor every bite and I don't criticize them for their slow-pace.
I don't eat fast to get the meal as I am very rarely in a rush to leave the dinner table. I eat fast to get on with the next thing, I love dinner conversation because of the intimacy of sitting face-to-face with friends without the distractions of TV's, text-messaging or computers. I eat quickly but never rush anybody else yet somehow it bothers others when the completion on a meal isn't a synchronized event.
Now I believe the criticism is warranted when sharing dishes like appetizers or tapas but when I have my own plate I cannot get the hate.

I feel like this eating efficiency stems from the fact that in order to keep my 6'1" frame well nutritioned when growing up in a family which always served small portions you had to learn to fight for what you get; you eat fast when you aren't sure if you'll get another bite..

But more than that maybe I just have an unsophisticated palate. There are many people out there who can dissect each bite and analyze it for taste, texture and type with the proficiency that I can analyze the hotness of a chick's outfit. They are able to spot a hint of basil in a sauce or a touch of honey in a pastry like I can tell a woman isn't wearing a bra from a quarter mile away. The problem I encounter though is that people mistake the sophisticated palate for sophistication which is like calling color-blindness a character flaw.

So I am cursed with the inability to be able to pair a red-curry sauce with a proper vegetable but at least I can hold a conversation and the more I think of it maybe I eat fast in order to be able to steer the dinner conversation away from things that bore me. How is that for sophistication!!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

1 comment:

  1. omg i eat so fast too! i think it's the exercising that makes you in starvation mode all the time so then when you get food, you just pig out. or maybe that's just me. it's not too attractive on a girl to eat so fast & piggishly but i can't help it. i HATE fancy expensive restaurants that give you those tiny tiny fancy portions. i always try to eat slowly to be classy but i'm just dying. then i have to go home and eat a second dinner like soy corndogs from trader joe's or a frozen pizza.

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