FIRST TASTES ~~ FIRST KISSES

The first taste of something or someone remains in memory long, long after the dish - or the love - is consumed. But there is always the next taste to come, and that keeps us alive inside. I thrive on the pleasures of the senses and I make no apology for it. If there were such a job, I'd choose to be a voluptuary, I think!
In her book, Aphrodite, Isabel Allende tells about the taste of her first kiss and how she can remember it still...forty years later. What did your first kiss taste like? Mine tasted of salty soy and sweat, followed by faint sweet-spicy ginger beer. I was 17 and he was 23. He was Greek and I was greeeeen! And ever since, having a man cook for me feels immensely erotic. I can recall the taste of every "first" kiss that followed...all wonderful and complex.
Some memorable first tastes for me are ~~ Roasted figs - a deep, wet sweetness that wasn't cloying with a touch of the fire that released their juices - and figs are erotic already! Raw oysters - saline and fresh, like chewing on the living sea. Russian walnut chicken - my mother made this when I was young and it tasted earthy, sumptuous in it's nutty creaminess...I requested it often. Montrachet goat cheese - for me, the taste of an alpine meadow in dairy form. Fresh Pesto - a symphony in my mouth and in my nose...florally green, sharp, immediate...and addicting. Taleggio cheese - cow breath, cream, grass and Italy...all contained in a smelly rind that only the adventurous will go beyond. Heidesand cookies - an early taste memory...it seemed to me then, and now, the very best thing you could do with butter. Tobiko (flying fish eggs) - orange, salty-umame, and that delightful POP. Forget the sushi, just give me the tobiko! Tauben (squab) - first served to me by my German friend...dark, succulent, smoky meat - it brought out my primitive food feelings. Risotto - that first one...I knew that if I could have only ONE dish, this was IT. Bartlett pear - that first, perfectly ripe, juice running down my chin, perfumed pear...heaven!
So....TASTE....just one of the senses, but a big one for me. Tell me about the tastes that have stayed in your mind. I'd love to know...

photo by Herb Nolan

EATING THE WORLD
I was born with my mouth open...
entering into this juicy world
of peaches and lemons and ripe sun
and the pink and secret flesh of women,
this world where dinner is in the breath
of the subtle desert,
in the spices of the distant sea
which late at night drift over sleep.
I was born somewhere between the brain and the pomegranate,
with a tongue tasting the delicious textures of
hair and hands and eyes;
I was born out of the heart stew,
out of the infinite bed, to walk upon
this infinite earth.
I want to feed you the flowers of ice
on this winter window,
the aroma of many soups,
the scent of sacred candles
that follows me around this cedar house,
I want to feed you the lavender
that lifts up out of certain poems,
and the cinnamon of apples baking,
and the simple joy we see in the sky
when we fall in love.
I want to feed you the pungent soil
where I harvested garlic,
I want to feed you the memories
rising out of the aspen logs
when I split them, and the pinyon smoke
that gathers around the house on a still night,
the mums left by the kitchen door.
-Excerpted from the poem by James Tipton, 1995