To see the world again with a child’s eyes. To clear the fog of day-to-day life and see things in a fresh way. To find that "Ah-Ha!" moment of exhiliration.
To see the world again with a child's eyes. Can we achieve this through food? Through a meal?
How to clear the fog of day-to-day life and see things in a fresh way? I've written about that "Ah-ha!" moment of recognition of something lost that happens when you taste an heirloom tomato.
Other artisanal products or heirloom breeds do the same, such as Kurobuta pork which many say reminds them of "what pork used to taste like."
Travel can disorient us enough to breakthrough our familiar routines and give us that whole-self, child-like perspective on things we experience. Scott Haas in the March 2006 Wine Spectator began an essay that captures the essence of the feeling: "Facing a language I can't read or understand properly allows me to see and feel long lost days of childhood when the world was more mysterious, sensual and forbidding. I am put in the delightful position of being an observer."
I think it's more than observing. In fact, I wrote this week about two ways that one can experience the familiar, as new. In Dining in Darkness Reveals Joy I introduce a new concept being offered in Montreal. I also revisit Chef Ferran Adria, who some see as a provocateur, using technology and science to push culinary boundaries. My introduction to Adria was Anthony Bourdain's show and the piece I wrote Bourdain Encounters Adria received quite a bit of notice.
Interviewed by Powell Books recently, Anthony Bourdain hints at these same concepts. The chef, author, travel show host has many fans. This interview explains in great measure his appeal to me. He speaks of the fundamental underlying nexus between food and sex.
Asked to offer a favorite sentence or passage from another writer, he cites A.J. Leibling: "A man who is rich in his adolescence is almost doomed to be a dilettante at the table. This is not because all millionaires are stupid but because they are not impelled to experiment."
In answering the question "What do you dislike most?" Bourdain says, "When I encounter an utter lack of curiosity in a person I'm always oppressed by the experience. Snobbery - particularly when it comes to food - is a terrible sin. And certainty will destroy us all."
Curiosity, experimentation, seeking ways to experience life with freshness: these can show us new worlds. Bourdain, Adria and O.Noir offer a chance at the delight and the joy that is ours to be had.
We need only lift the veil of the mundane from our eyes and our palates. I invite you to find your inner toddler and dig in.
