Acquiring Some Taste

James Bond enjoys vodka martinis, quail eggs, Bollinger Champagne and Beluga caviar. A man after my own heart. An ardent connoisseur, he can distinguish Beluga from other caviars and tell the year of the Bollinger from one sip.

Where does he find the time, (not to mention the money), to hone his palate to such a degree? An individual would have to drink a lot of Bollinger, from many vintages to attain such an uncanny degree of discrimination.

Have you ever heard someone say: "It's an acquired taste," when describing some exotic or so-called "gourmet" food? If you must acquire a taste to enjoy the item, how tasty can it be to begin with?

And how does one "acquire" a taste for a particular delicacy in the first place? The implication is that the item must be repeatedly sampled until the palate gradually becomes amenable to it.

I believe this is possible but how often does this happen? How many people try a particular food, dislike it, and then purposely set out to relive the experience again and again? And how many of them would do it with the $70 per ounce Beluga caviar?

I suppose some people might be in the middle and try it again. But I think most people are in one of two categories: They either like the caviar or are wondering what mental defect causes the rest of us to pay exorbitant prices for slimy fish eggs.

One way palates can evolve is if people overcome their psychological barriers to food. Taste is certainly influenced by the foods we were exposed to in our formative years, the breadth of our gastronomic experiences, and idiosyncratic beliefs about particular foods. So as individuals start to "think outside of their box," they naturally broaden the scope of their dietary realm.

A good example comes from the 1934 movie classic "It Happened One Night" with Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable. The pair are stranded on the road with no money. Starving, Clark Gable swipes some carrots from a nearby farm.

Claudette Colbert, a pampered, high society girl raised on professionally prepared meals, is appalled when Gable proceeds to eat them raw. Eventually hunger drives her to think outside of her box.

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