Re: [CH] sensory remapping

Calvin Donaghey (gdonaghey@bitstreet.com)
Fri, 15 May 1998 19:57:11 -0500

J.B.  - Interesting choice of words.  What you see in shapes, I think I must
smell in a similar context.  I walk into a good cafe and see all kinds of things
with my nose.  What is interesting is that the folks I'm with usually don't get
it at all. I can actually smell all the different pods when I dry peppers, and I
mix them until I get the aroma I want, because my sense of taste isn't nearly as
focused.  If you're crazy, chalk me up for the rubber room, too.   CWD

J. B. Cattley wrote:

> You're pretty much all cooks out there, and flavours are obviously
> preeminent, so I'll ask a weird question:
>
> Anyone else out there cook by shape? Hard to explain, but I sort of remap
> flavours to a spatial context to do additive/subtractive manipulations on
> them. Different flavours fit in different places/directions, and if you know
> what I mean, you know what I mean.
>
> In other words, when the curry sticks out equally in all directions, it's
> done. This is, I have just realised, why I don't much care for Thai: the
> lemongrass just doesn't interlock with the other flavours, but sort of rides
> over the top.
>
> I am not synaesthetic, as it doesn't boil down to an actual concrete
> sensation, it just seems to be a convenient sensory algebra, IYSWIM.
>
> Anyone else out there not thinking 'Complete loony'?
>
> jbc