I like to think that as I get older I am continuing to mature and become more refined. This is, at the very least, true in the way I’m learning to appreciate things more. Let’s talk about those fine things in life - wine, music and chocolate.
Wine is probably the easiest to start with; as wine tasting is one of the most widely caricatured in modern literature. The idea of identifying different component flavours is one of complete lunacy to the untrained taste bud. Yet, with only a few minutes of tuition it is genuinely possible to start picking such things out. The grass in a fresh sauvignon blanc, or the leather and pepper of a pinot noir perhaps? - angels from the bottom of the garden? I am by no means an expert, but I can appreciate a good wine and I enjoy trying to work out what those flavours are.
Chocolate is another that has a similar parallel. Single estate chocolates such as those at the chocolate trading co have as much variety of interesting flavours as wine - from red berries through to liquorice.
To take a slight sidestep, music is another example. Some would argue that no music is completely original and it all has inspiration from a variety of sources. Much of the skill of music journalists describing what a band is like lies in being able to pick out the influences and ‘flavours’ embedded within.
And this brings me to the crux of what I want to say. That being able to identify and appreciate these flavours is something that requires a number of skills. Based on little thought I’d like to proffer the following:
- talent - having a tuned enough sense of taste / hearing / musical ability etc in order to pick out and then isolate the individual component parts
- experience - having tasted or experienced the ‘flavour’ elsewhere is the only way that one can ever identify it within something else
- association - being able to correctly recall and connect the current ‘flavour’ experience with what has gone before
All of this can be applied again to fine dining, fine art, literature etc etc. It’s enjoyable and I think that spending time trying to learn to appreciate this stuff is far from a waste of time. This is a slightly odd statement for me to say, as for much of my life I would have disagreed with it - which is perhaps why I’m only beginning to spend time doing it so much now!
And I also believe that learning to appreciate any of these things helps us to engage with the culture in which we live. How that might apply to the multicultural society in which we live is another matter…