Week Five Perspective: Culinary Awareness

During cancer treatment, weight loss is the enemy. We use 20 percent more calories and 20 percent more protein during the process.

When they discussed side effects with me, I was warned that I would lose my ability to taste food. I thought “what is the big deal’. I now know it matters greatly. Having lost my sense of taste has rendered mealtime a chore while leaving me keenly aware of the joy of food. The crispy edge of a beautifully cooked steak, the creaminess of a baked potato, the icy sweetness of vanilla ice cream are memories that I long to recreate.

Although research is ongoing, current data says there are five sensations: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, savoury (umami).

For me, the first sensations to disappear were sweet and salty. What replaced those two sensations were cardboard and plastic. How could I possibly know the taste of cardboard and plastic? As a kid, I chewed paper and gnawed on the edge of the Bic pen (another story for a different day).

This cancer detour has rendered the sense of taste elevated to one of the miraculous things about being human.

Food has always been emotional for me. I love hosting dinners and “breaking bread” with family and friends. I love how it feels to be surrounded by people I care about while enjoying good food and wine. And when someone prepares a meal for me, it feels like an honour bestowed.

My friend Lise Mollon is one of the best at making those in her home and at her table feel like they matter – and oh! the culinary delights.

This thinking about food led me to feast on data at the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care in Germany. In its taste presentation, it reflected on the link between emotions and human evolution.

The ability to taste was a sense that aided us in testing the food we were consuming. It was a matter of survival. A bitter or sour taste was an indication of poisonous inedible plants or rotting protein-rich food. The tastes sweet and salty, on the other hand, are often a sign of food rich in nutrients.

It seems to me, that taste is deeply rooted in our psyche – so much so that it even shows up in our language. Think about the strong emotions that phrases such as a bitter pill, sour grapes, sweet nothings, sweetie-pie evoke. So this sweetie-pie prays that when my ability to taste food returns within the next six months, that I never take it for granted again.