A Taste of Happiness - Brian Marulis

Mac n' Cheese

Taste is a sense that is easily overlooked as mere preference. Taste is seen as more individual than the other senses. What you hear, see, touch or smell as opposed to someone else is relatively the same; even if you have different reactions to the stimulus. But that difference of reactions is a matter of taste; good taste or bad taste. Taste is specific to the individual and can appear so isolating; but it is also the synthesis of the senses. When we taste, how it looks, the aroma it gives off, the texture, and the sound it makes when we eat all. Looking at this food may conjure a vague taste but it would not enhance how it looks. However, if you ate this dish with a blindfold, you could still visual what it looks like by how it tastes.

Taste extends beyond bringing the senses together, it also brings people together. In A Natural History of the Senses, Diana Ackerman says that “if language didn’t arise at meal times, it certainly evolved and became more fluent there” (Ackerman). Eating unites people; it is an extremely personal matter. Why don’t we eat with random strangers every day or try to save space by sharing a booth with people at a restaurant? We share food with our friends and families, people we like or at least know and have to deal with (cough Steve). Sharing a meal is, in a sense, a demonstration of comradery and friendship.

Dinner Table

Family dinners were a part of my childhood and I think that is large part of connecting with your family. If we don’t sit down for dinner with our family, then a distance grows between us. There is a lack of a medium to communicate, to share. Families become friends you just happen to live with. Meals are a social occasion, a place to connect with people. We talk while we eat with friends, we interact and grow closer, or further apart until we stop eating together. Personally, a silent meal is quite an awkward situation that just feels wrong.

Taste not only unifies the senses but people as well. Taste is the bridge that connects such seemingly distinct and different destinations. Losing taste is a loss of connection; you become detached not only from the world but from the people around you. Taste combines all of the senses in one experience, to truly taste, all the senses are needed. It is the sense that is enhances all the other senses, a lens to experience all the world has.