The way to a man’s heart is trough his stomach. The question is how do you get there? At least the first sentence is from a saying of many years standing. It’s that next sentence that begs an answer.
There are at least three possible answers. Taste, appearance and aroma. One or any combination of the three is a possibility. So who should know better? Well now there may be the ultimate question.
As a teenager growing up in a farming community, there wasn’t a lot of work that paid much outside of mowing lawns for the summer. Bailing hay for the local farmers was always a good job, as you were out of doors, getting a tan, and impressing the farm girls as they were nearly impossible to keep away.
Aside from getting stuck up in the barn stacking the hay, it was a great summer job. The pay was not exorbitant, but the farm wives made up for it with a meal that was nearly always to die for. If you could name the vegetable, meat or dessert it could just about be guaranteed to find it’s way to the table. Better yet, there was enough for seconds. Most of us worked as much for those meals more than the $1 and hour we got paid.
The work would start as soon as the morning dew would dry. Wet hay bales are one thing no one really cares to lift off the ground up to 6 high on a trailer. So by noon everyone is wondering what time is lunch?
When you go to a restaurant and observe the menu, the photos of the food generally are captured under ideal conditions, with special attention paid to colors and textures. So if it’s true that we eat with our eyes, then this would be the first attempt to draw our senses in to make a choice.
More leverage could come into play if another customers dish is seen on it’s way to the table. Ever have that happen to you? As you’re ready to order another dish is spied in transit and it looks so good, you end up changing your order. Sound familiar?
How many times have you walked past a bakery and the smell of baked bread is wafting out into your walking space? What did you do? if you’re normal, chances are you went in and bought some warm bread. So there is where the nose gets involved.
I still remember hearing about a particular restaurant that was rumored to have the best lobster bisque around. Not being a particular fan on lobster bisque one way or another, but liking seafood, it seemed reasonable the next time we were there to try it. Am I ever glad I did, because to date I have not found another place that can beat it, and even those who brag on theirs admit defeat at the hands of the other local. So taste wins out there.
So lobster bisque and taste, the farmers table and the eyes, or my favorite coffee roastery. The taste, eyes and nose all get in the act. Does one get precedence over the other? What do you think? Here’s a chance to add your thoughts in the comments section below. I’d be interested to read them.
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