Sensual Cooking: Taste

Each post in the Sensual Cooking series will focus on one of the senses through which we experience our world. This is the final installment.

The most important sense regarding the enjoyment of food is obviously taste. The other senses only come into play when taste is comparable, and you need a tie breaker. The other senses may get you in the door, but taste keeps you coming back. It makes me recall a time when I was going to school at Central Missouri was introduced to a barbecue joint just south of campus called Perry Foster’s.

Some say calling Perry Foster’s a joint or dive is a generous assessment. I hear several rumors about the, uh, establishment indicating that their relationship with the health department is not the best. In fact, when a friend invites me there for lunch I want to decline. His reply? Taste and see.

Perry Foster's BBQ, Warrensburg, Mo

From the outside, it looked more like a single family dwelling than a restaurant; only the hand-painted sign gave indication otherwise. The inside was lined with wood paneling and featured a wall of autographed “celebrity” photos. The celebrities included a few Kansas City Chiefs football players, country singers Charlie Daniels and Hank Williams Jr. and what appeared to be an assortment of women from the adult entertainment industry. When I considered leaving, my friend challenged me. Taste and see.

The portions were tremendous. The meat on this “sandwich” eclipsed the bread as the sides were haphazardly slapped on a paper plate. The drinks came from a cooler, still in a can, which was in some ways a blessing. After I discreetly wipe the top of the can before opening it, I stare at the plate – hesitate – taste and see.

I have enjoyed barbecue from Atlanta, Raleigh, Dallas and Memphis in the South and Kansas City and St. Louis in the Midwest. The barbecue I tasted that day compares with the best. Many critics have attacked the cleanliness or atmosphere of Perry Foster’s, but few have disputed the taste.

Taste and see that the LORD is good;
   blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

Psalm 34:8

Taste and see. As a phrase, it means more than using our physical senses. Explore. Experience. Discover.

Many people have tried to judge the Christian faith from the outside. People measure it from distorted accounts of church history. Others criticize it by atrocities committed by various misguided groups in the name of Christianity. Maybe they are jaded by political leaders trying to capture the “Christian demographic”, whatever that is. Perhaps they were scarred in what they view as a Christian home or by a minister. Some use science to discount faith altogether. Few deny that Jesus was a “good teacher”. Ghandi is often quoted as saying, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” For those who distrust Christianity, what hope is there to taste and see?

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

Matthew 5:13

Salt is used to season and preserve. It changes the flavor of the food. Jesus called his followers to be salt and light. He called them to go into the world to make a difference. To be a contrast from the rest of the world by their speech and behavior. As Matthew 5:16, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. In other words, be salt and light so others can taste and see.

Sensual Cooking: Smell

Each post in the Sensual Cooking series will focus on one of the senses through which we experience our world.

What is your favorite food smell? For me, and many others, it is frying bacon. In fact, a study conducted by www.OnePoll.com in Great Britain concluded that men prefer the smell of frying bacon to that of newborn babies.* The smell of bacon is so appealing, that one man** has even invented a bacon alarm clock. Matty Sallin's Wake n' Bacon helps you face the day with the power of bacon!

The Wake n' Bacon: I'm not making this up.

In bacon, and many other foods, it is the fat that gives off a pleasing aroma. Fried chicken, steak, french fries. For this reason, when the people of Israel in the Old Testament wanted to worship God with their best, they would offer the fattiest portions of meat as a burnt offering.

The priest shall burn them on the altar as food, an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma. All the fat is the LORD's.

Leviticus 3:16

This sacrifice was used to atone for unintentional sins and express their complete devotion to God. In the New Testament, Jesus became the final sacrifice for the atonement of sin, but that did not signify the end of demonstrating our worship and devotion to God.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Romans 12:1

Thankfully, we are called to be living sacrifices. The idea is that we still offer God our best. The way we living should honor the One who made us. As Ephesians 5:2 says, we are to live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

*Finally! This study has been way overdue.
**my hero

Sensual Cooking: Touch

Each post in the Sensual Cooking series will focus on one of the senses through which we experience our world.

I hate cottage cheese. Not the taste, but the texture. It also bothers me when my food doesn't have the texture we expect. Tough meat. Cold coffee. Soggy cereal. Random thought: who ever came up with the phrase "one tough cookie"? I like my cookies warm and soft.

Touch can also refer to sensations. When it come to food, fullness is a feeling with which I am quite familiar. The warmth of a hot meal on a cold day. The relief of cold lemonade after hours of yard work (I've read stories that people still do this today). In the book of Revelation, there is the rebuke of a prosperous church in Laodicea. They are chastised for being "lukewarm". 

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.  

Revelation 3:15-16

Many people believe that "cold" refers to those who are hateful or evil, while "hot" is equated with love, but this misses the mark. Both cold and hot water are useful. "Lukewarm" here implies the indifference the people of this church had toward their faith. They were wrapped up in themselves instead of dedicated to Christ's mission to love.

This brings to mind another sensation. Hunger. When was the last time you felt truly hungry? Do you even know? We often mistake boredom or worry for hunger. How do you consider the problem of the hungry in our nation? Do you even think about it? Do you care? Are you indifferent? Lukewarm? According to Share Our Strength, "1-in-5 children in America struggles with hunger."  Would you like an opportunity to help? Check out Share Our Strength's "No Kid Hungry" campaign. It will make you feel good to help.

Sensual Cooking: Sound

Each post in the Sensual Cooking series will focus on one of the senses through which we experience our world.

With regard to food, sound is somewhat of a novelty. I'll never forget my first experience eating Rice Krispies. I was floored when I found that the cereal really went "Snap, Crackle, Pop" as the onomatopoeia in the commercials suggested. While I briefly experienced a moment of wonder, my excitement for talking food was soon forgotten once I realized how much better Rice Krispies tasted when combined with marshmallows and margarine.

The truth is, sound can actually have a significant impact on your dining experience. A 2010 study revealed that background noise interferes with your ability to taste food. The findings were used to explain complaints of bland food on airplanes (though the study had no explanation for lousy food found in quiet hospitals.)

Restaurant kitchens are noisy places. Banging pots. Slamming doors. Splashing of water. Boiling water. Sizzling food. Chopping. Shouting. Stirring. Mixing. A cacophony of sounds in the effort to produce a symphony of flavors. One listening might attempt to connect the clamor heard in preparing a complex meal to its quality, but it isn't so. We so often, I so often, want to be heard. Not all of me, just the good parts.

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 

1 Corinthians 13:1

Talk is cheap. Our lip-service to a way of life doesn't make it reality. We often try to give an impression of morality and self-righteousness. Resounding and clanging on the outside; selfish and scared on the inside. Some may be fooled for a time, but after people taste our lives, we will be exposed.

So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

Matthew 6:2

The noise we make needs to be honest, like the food we offer.

Sensual Cooking: Sight

Each post in the Sensual Cooking series will focus on one of the senses through which we experience our world.

Plating
In the food industry, a meal's visual appeal is one of the most important factors contributing to the initial success of an entree. Food presentation, also known as plating, refers to the appearance and arrangement of food based on color or shape. While some may discount the importance of plating, it has become an art form for many restaurants who often use visual advertisements to attract their customs. Following a few basic guidelines lines can transform any culinary endeavor into feast for the eyes.

A Recipe for Success
Since I promised recipes would accompany this blog series, it would be easy to demonstrate one meal that looks visually appealing, but you can't serve the same meal every night. Instead, I wanted to give the recipe to make every meal look appetizing. Like any artist, you need to start with the proper canvas. Neutral colors best bring out the color of your food, so white or beige dishes often provide the appropriate contrast for any meal. A garnishment whose color is  complementary will add depth to the look of a meal. The size of the dish is just as important as the color. Large dishes allow for adequate space to give each food its own stage. If you image your plate as a clock, starches are typically placed at eleven, veggies at two with meat or the main feature at six.

The Challenge
In order to demonstrate this principle, I decided to attempt the ultimate challenge: the happy meal. Here is a meal so disgusting that the only proper presentation is a decorated box. It cannot conform to the traditional rules of plating since it is almost all starch.

The Problem

Even the best plating cannot change the nutritional value of the food. At its best, plating a meal can enhance the value of an already flavorful meal, but it is often deceptive. Dyes, garnishes and sauces can give substandard food a false appearance of nourishment. No matter how well you plate a happy meal, it's still just a happy meal. The same is true in life. People who seem attractive can be ugly inside. Popular choices often have hidden consequences. If I could get more money, a prettier wife and a faster car I could really be happy. We see, but we lack vision.

"Where there is no vision, the people perish . . ." Proverbs 29:18a

Even those with the best intentions fall into this trap. Churches draw in congregants with clever names and slick campaigns that make them indistinguishable from the rest of the world. Money meant to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and shelter the poor is spent repackaging the Good News as a great idea. If we lose the message in the broadcast, what's the point?

Irony
The toy that came with that happy meal? Vanity Smurf.