Monday night we were part of a group of food writers tasting different ingredients blindfolded, as a fundraiser for Share Our Strength at Sono Wood Fired Pizzeria. We got out respectably (hey, you identify aperol by taste alone!) and let it go at that, but Anthony Todd of Chicagoist thought harder about it— and the result is an interesting essay on what sight adds to, and obscures, when it comes to flavor:
Foods that normally wouldn’t get to me were suddenly shocking. Fish sauce, for instance, tasted like I’d swallowed part of an evaporated tide pool. I almost spit it back out. I’m not sure I could recognize celery root in a refrigerator reliably, let alone on a plate, but it was painfully obvious and very strong when I had nothing else to rely on. If i’d been able to see, I probably would have been confused by an anonymous brown, thin liquid, but when blindfolded, the flavor of lobster stock was like a punch in the brain.
Check the whole piece out here. [Chicagoist]
