Alex James

Slow Life | 17 October 2009

Taste the difference

issue 17 October 2009

It’s quite unusual to eat similar things together. If we’re having carrots, for example, it’s normal to eat only one type of carrot, but anyone who was to taste three completely different carrots one after the other — say a biodynamic baby carrot, a medium-sized organic purple one and a fat luminous orange one — just once would know, for ever, what type of carrot he prefers, which must surely be a useful thing to know. The point is that it’s really very hard to tell how much nicer one thing is than another unless you taste them side-by-side, and two or three similar things being served side-by-side is about the last thing that ever happens, normally.

I must admit I’ve not yet tried it with carrots, but I did recently serve a cheeseboard with six or seven blue cheeses on it, and no others.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in