Reflexion: Oh so tasty!

Reflexion is a series where usual habits, thoughts, cultural norms and beliefs are being reflected and rethought. The goal's to open up our minds and to receive new ways of thinking about an issue. 

About Taste. 

There are many good reasons to think about taste. Besides being a super interesting occurrence, it's a hot topic right now, for example, in the meat consumption debate.
Consider a typical conversation between a meat consumer and a meat refuser:
as soon the meat eater admits he just loves the taste too much to give it up completely, the opposite question is something like: "So, letting sentient beings suffer and them being killed just for a 5-second taste experience?", putting the meat eater in a dilemma between moral conscience and physical satisfaction. 
FYI: you don't have to care for animals nor the environment, maybe you don't even care about your health either - doesn't matter, there are many good reasons to reduce meat consumption.

What I want to point out is that taste matters. Seems that cravings can be stronger than intention.
So, thinking about it might help to understand its signification and gives you some new ways to respond to your body's needs.

Taste - body language.

I want to focus on taste, cause this is theoretically  the one and only reason why we eat a certain food. In practice, however, it's more complicated than that. Many people make decisions about what's going down their throat by what they consider reasonable, rather than listening to their bodies' impulses - that's my explanation, at least. For instance, people might eat stuff they don't really like cause they think it's healthy or does something good to them, but most people won't stuck to their diets if they don't like it, anyways. This is no news.
I'd describe good taste as this satisfying sensation happening on your tongue, followed by a desire to swallow down. And then the stimulation is gone, but you're brain is memorizing that delish sensation that just happened in our mouth and tells you to repeat it. So we take another bite, and another, until the stimulation becomes less intense, less satisfying and we stop eating (or not).
So, it's essentially a physical satisfactory stimulation. (Again - my personal theory! I'm not an expert.)

Now, taste involves not only flavour, but is influenced by texture, temperature, appearance (stimulates associations), hunger, state of health, cultural background, genetics and other external factors. These factors are all playing an essential role in how taste is perceived.
And there's a damn good reason why taste depends on your personal situation: it's your body's way to talk to you. Good taste might mean something like: hey ya, there's some nutritional value in that kind of food - carbs, fats, proteins, minerals, vitamins - eat it! Or maybe some comforting, positive feelings associated to this apple pie that reminds you of those good old summer days in your grannies backyard. In either way, it's your brains reward center that gives you those impulses, those cravings.

(Too complicated? Think of it like this: if you had no tastebuds at all and everything you put in your mouth would neither taste good nor bad - how would you know what your body actually needs to survive? Why not just chew on some styrofoam or cotton wool, maybe some soil? You get the idea.)

Let's sum up: 
- Taste matters. Cravings are strong and might even be stronger than your moral will.
- Taste is dependent on many factors, such as flavour, texture, state of hunger, genetics, habituation, etc.
- Taste is a way your body communicates with you. Good taste means: there's something in that food I need physically (nutrients) or psychologically (positive associations, habituations).

Now getting to that flesh. 

I ate all kinds of food groups as a kid, although my parents might say that I've been a difficult mouth to feed. They are probably right. 

Here's the thing: yes, I ate bread, but only the white, brioche or Italian type ones, or alternatively, the very, very black german breads called pumpernickel.
Yes, I ate cheese, but only three specific ones, which were parmiggiano/grana padano, mozzarella and sbrinz (a unique Swiss cheese), and only on my spaghetti or pizza, respectively.
Yes, I ate fruit, but only specific ones and only in specific forms: sour and hard apples were a no, sweet, kind of starchy apples a yes. Watermelon a no, honeydrew and cantaloup a yes. Coconut shreds  a big, big no, especially not macaroons, that cookies made of coco shreds and sugar. But fresh coconut meat I loved, as well as curries made with coconut milk. 

And the same applied to meat: plain grilled steak or pork or any kind of meat a big, fat no. But when smothered in a fatty sauce (bolognese sauce), fried in a fat, oily and crispy coating (think of wiener schnitzel) or as a component of a food (meat balls, any kind of sausage) a yes. I didn't care for meat at BBQ's, unless it was something processed. I ate chicken nuggets, burgers, sausages, meatballs, fish sticks. 

The point is: I never liked plain meat. Never. It wasn't that plain piece of flesh sitting on the grill that made me like meat. Because honestly: it doesn't taste like much. It's the other stuff, the spices, sauces, marinades, coatings and other ingredients that transform meat to something delicious.
My tastebuds said: yeah, I like that carbs and that fat, because energy. And my reward center said yeaaah; fish sticks and burgers - that sounds like holidays and leisure and friends and fun and eating with fingers and good-mooded parents.

So: I learned that - when my tastebuds craved meat, they actually craved fried and spiced up stuff - so I could easily substitute fleshy for plant-based junk food. My tastebuds didn't care about what was under that breading and spices and fats.

Maybe this applies for one of you as well. Is it really that plain piece of meat you fancy, or is it the other stuff? Or why would the food industry be able to produce veggie "fake" meat that tastes astonishingly similar? Because it's all chemicals? No. Because what you think the "taste of meat" is, is actually not meat.

Yes.