This week I was reading an interesting article about an olive oil competition (no link sorry) and it stated that Olive oil connoisseurs look for oils made from young green olives and are bitter. Which got me thinking...
Why is it snobs of taste always gravitate towards bitter?
Wine, Dry wines particularly reds are not necessarily bitter tasting but certainly a similar feeling in your mouth. I should know our untrained customers will often call a dry wine too bitter.
Beer, ask anyone you think is a beer snob what their favorite beer is. Its almost guaranteed the majority of them say an IPA or anything hoppy.
Olive oil, See above
Coffee, I'm reaching here since I despise coffee because of its bitterness but, I'm assuming those shots of espresso and exotic coffee aficionados aren't dumping sugar and cream into the black stuff when they want the most expressive flavors of the roasted beans.
Chocolate, Dark bitter chocolate, milk chocolate is for kids on halloween, give these guys the 75% cocoa.
What sticks out to me is that people who like these flavors don't just tolerate them they LOVE them. Everyone knows someone who is a lover of at least one bitter on this list with a strong distaste/preference away from their more mild counterparts. Why is it? If you think about it they are a minority in each category with the majority liking a more mild and/or sweeter version of any of those things.
This is just a bitter idea as food for bitter thought.
I don't have any guesses nor solutions.
2 comments:
Perhaps, since we are born to gravitate toward sweet foods/drinks that it does take a more developed palette to enjoy bitter foods. Hence, the snobbery. Just an idea... I like sour beers, and people who like sour tastes can't be snobs, right?
Good thinking. Sour might be the new bitter, if you think of fermented foods, many of them are slightly sour, which in today's food world is pretty uncommon!
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