Last Meal Followers

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Is losing your sense of taste the same thing as a death sentence for you ever again enjoying a great meal?

Is the sight and texture of a dish enough to keep you interested in what you put into your body? Is food anything more than fuel for the body if it has no taste?

With no sense of taste would you find yourself eating everything healthy and imagining that it was a tasty cheese burger? Or do you find yourself eating anything and everything, hoping that your tasteless life comes to an end sooner rather than later (ok maybe a bit much).

I found a very interesting article from 2007 about foodie who was to have oral surgery that might impact his/her total sense of taste. The foodie was able to plan out several last meals at his/her favorite NY restaurants, but wrote a request to have a ‘final meal’ at one of the few 4 star restaurants in the world, Le Bernardin. Chef Eric Ripert was happy to put together a “Doomsday Menu” that consisted of mostly seafood (Fluke, Lobster, Calamari, Salmon….) with a wine companion. And I’m sure that it was a fantastic meal but it begs the question, if you had to put your Last Meal in the hands of a specific chef or restaurant, who or where would you choose? (Use the comment feature – I would love to know your answer)

http://nymag.com/daily/food/2007/10/my_sense_of_taste_is_threatene.html

1 comment:

Ark Dog said...

I have eaten at Le Bernardin a number of times, and the cuisine is exceptional. Pristinely fresh seafood perfectly prepared. Your question however is complicated, because it really is a question of what type of cuisine you would want the last meal you could remember tasting to be as well as who you would trust to plan/prepare it. What tastes/foods/flavors would so adhere to your memory that you would remember them after you had lost the ability to detect them ?

I would want a number of small distinct courses with memorable favors. A meal that comes to mind is one you can't get anymore. In the early 80's, a bright star of Philadelphia's Chinatown was Joe Poon's "Joe's Duck House". Joe trained at the CIA when he came here,and his food showed the discipline and style of this training. This was not your standard Chinese food, it was early Asian Fushion. They had an unbelievable multicourse duck dinner (the number of courses would depend on the number of people, it was a simple order, we'll have the duck dinner for 4). I always made it a stop when I was back in town. Some highlights: an unbelievably good wonton soup, classic peking duck (they hung the ducks in the window), mussels with black, duck with oyter mushrooms, sizzling steak, the best fried rice I have ever had, etc. And of course several beers to wash it all down. I have had the duck dinner in a lot of restaurants, but it was never as good.

Joe moved on from his original location, do not be confused by the fraud of a restaurant of the same name at the original location. In the 80s, there was always a line and always a wait and it was always good.