Food is universal but tastes are subjective. The recently concluded Urea, Sweden Food Symposium held May 25 to 28, 2023 was a well-attended, unbiased, and multi-cultural open forum that represented food preparations worldwide. It featured a humble yet prestigious showcase of recipes, chef’s delights, bloopers, and follies; highlighted the arguments of old versus new; and represented the country’s best and favorite gastronomic delights.
It was a revival of grandma’s index cards tucked away in a recipe box; an elevation of a forgotten ethnicity; a collaboration of like-minded people with a passion for cooking.
My wife’s winningest cookbook, “Anti-Aging Dishes from Around the World” recently received a “Best in the World 2023” award from Gourmand International. It is not just a book of collected original recipes, but it is also a book about life. Life is sometimes sweet, sometimes sour, sometimes salty, sometimes peppery and minty, sometimes buttery, or a blend of sorts concocted into mixed emotions and feelings which makes life collectively delightful, colorful, worth recounting; worthy to be shared and told.
In a way, the symposium and awards ceremony played up the hierarchy of flavors as derived from the pleasures of aroma, texture, and sensation experienced by the gustatory buds of our common tongue and buccal senses.
The sensation of SWEET is derived from a sugary flavor, either from a ripe fruit or honey produced by bees. Sweet evokes a delightful, gratifying taste that makes one smile; that makes one dear and huggable; a taste that stands out as pleasant and lovable. Sweetness can be both a delight and a bane for they provide energy, but too much of anything is still no better than nothing.
The sensation of SALTY is derived from a briny flavor, from either a combination of sodium and chloride—to be chemically accurate—or from the sea as evaporated crystals, which are a fact of nature. It is a mineral that brings about a piquant sting that hammers on hearts and brains; a king of the senses that is widely used yet still best consumed in moderation as salinity can be both friend and enemy.
The sensation of SOUR and ACIDITY is derived from the vinegary of fermented coconut from the Philippine Isles, the acrid taste of green lemons from Ceylon, the calamansi harvested from the sandy loam soils of the Bengal strait and the Indian Peninsula, from the berries picked from temperate zones as fruits of comfort during the winter. It is a taste that evokes a nod of approval or a grimace of disapproval. The lower the PH level, the more intense the acidity; the more to linger and remember.
The sensation of PEPPERY is derived from the testy Asian harvest of sunbaked Kampot, Cambodia, to the vast fields of Indochine Saigon, to the remote jungles of Brazil, and the coveted spice country of China by the Venetian explorer, Genghis Khan. Peppers in all shapes, textures, colors, and origins are the welcome greeting that one meets with the first aroma, the inviting smell, that lingering tang of mixed feelings drowning the bland and dull to a more powerful punch of unforgettable flavor.
The sensation of MINTY is derived originally from the Mediterranean galore of the Greeks—the Aegean Isles—as it empties into the Adriatic Sea. The discovered mint was sailed and carried into the Aristocratic United States, an eloquent addition to dinners bequeathed only to presidents. The czars of Russia dined with mint to signify royalty, the British royals left a mint taste in their mouths to signal a change of plate or course. The Scandinavian shores from the countries of Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Norway all the way to the Arctic Poles associated mint with the menthol feel to suggest a cool vibe from the frigid West in contrast to its counterpart, the humid East.
The sensation of BUTTERY is derived from the isles of Dublin, Ireland bordering the Atlantic coast to the west, the Celtic Sea on the south, the Irish sea on the east. Milk is churned and brought to a stormy delight that can be spread, melted, baked, and added to a million pieces of dough and bread. Analogous to the churning of cream from the milk to make butter, Irish history is not exempt from turmoil and all that spinning to separate the cream from the crop signifies a past strife of an internal revolution within the walls of a country.
The sensation of BITTER is derived from the least popular, least favored, the last to be asked for among all tastes. But unignorably used to excite, to awake with harsh reality, to unlock a hidden sense of a necessary evil because without bitterness everything is heaven and no hell; there is nothing to compare.
Lastly, the sensation of NEUTRALITY, AMBIGUITY, CONFUSION, BLENDING, a mixture of sorts, a concert of tastes, a cornucopia of senses. A surprise from the first bite to the unexpected finale of texture and flavor. To name a few: sweet and sour, sweet and salty, paltry sweet, paltry sour, occasionally peppery and minty. One never expects what blend of flavors can wake up the sleepy, accustomed, unexcited taste buds hidden in the doldrums of truth and reality.
Just like a recipe of food, we also have a recipe of life hidden in the ups and downs of past experiences but ready to start anew. A recipe to a successful dish can be unpredictable in outcomes but with careful preparation, the results can be stupendous. Similarly, a recipe to a successful living is not guaranteed but with careful intuition, success can be achieved.
Congratulations, Grace O. and FoodTrients for winning in the Gourmand Awards 2023. These winning recipes are laid out in a colorful cookbook; one that goes beyond food and mirrors the infusion of strategic ingredients that lead to a successful dish to strategic choices that lead to a successful life. (SPONSORED CONTENT)