Enjoy your food...

How do we eat? What a dumb question, right? How do we eat - just like every one else eats. Get the food in the plate, take a spoonful or hand full, shove it into the mouth, and chomp  chomp chomp... a la Hagar style. 

When we eat, most of our conscious part is not aware of the taste of the food. Most of the time, we don't even realize the various flavors present in the food. 

To experience the taste for the food, one need to invoke all the five senses - touch, smell, sight, hear and taste. First set the ambiance right, if you can. No strong scenting candles, no wafting odors from kitchen. 

First, see the food properly. Eat with your eyes. Take time to get accustomed to the way the food is presented. Enjoy the riot of colors and textures. 

The next step is to smell your food. Yes, you heard me right - go ahead and smell the food. Enjoy the aromas, inhale deeply and try to recognize the spices you are familiar with. Sometimes, you can smell the taste. Try guessing how the food will taste. 

Touch the food, and feel the texture. Feel the food with your fingers or spoon or fork. Is the food soft, grainy, chewy or smooth? Does the food resist the spoon / fork or does it let the spoon/fork sink in. Touch and feel all this and more. 

Listen to the food - food really talks. Most of us never associate the sense of hear with food. But in reality, it is the other way. The clucking of cutleries, the first contact of your spoon or fork with the food, the sound of the crumbling outer shell. As you start eating, listen to the various sounds. 

And now take a small portion, put it into mouth, chew slowly, and feel the flavour.

Let the taste buds get acquiescence with the taste.

Let the taste sink in. Try to decipher the various flavors. Is the food sweet, sour, hot, bitter, salty, earthy, bland or smoky? Can you recognize any more flavors? The taste of the food is usually a complex interplay of various flavors, and it is a treat to let your taste buds guide you through the nook and cranny of the complex constructions of various flavors. 

If you cannot concentrate, close your eye, and leave everything else from your mind. Enjoy your food.