Everyday Canvas

In or Out or Both, When Dining

Prompt: Do you think food tastes differently when you eat it outside? Why or Why not? What are some of the tastiest foods you've enjoyed outside?

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Since the food art fluctuates from cook to cook, surely what I cook at home and what the cooks cook in a restaurant differ. With the same token, there are variances in flavor among restaurants who offer the same dish.

The tastiest food, for me, was in Istanbul, Turkey, and in several different restaurants there. When we visited the few Turkish restaurants in USA, however, the taste was only slightly similar, and not as flavorful. I guess the locally grown produce was responsible for that difference.

There is another difference between eating out and eating in that doesn’t have anything to do with flavor. On days, when I like my peace and quiet, I like to stay home; besides, I like cooking. On days, when I feel like being in a crowd, restaurants are wonderful, especially when we visit them with friends and family members. In those instances, I also luxuriate in being served instead of serving, so much so that I don’t usually opt for salad bars. I like the waiters to bring the food to me, which makes me wonder if I were ever royalty in another life.

Talking about another life, not that it was in another life but it was so long ago that it feels like another life, the one city in the USA where I loved the food wherever we ate was San Francisco. Maybe because I was much younger then and adored that city.

Environmental cues also affect the taste of any food. I don’t like restaurants that employ bands playing harsh, scratchy music. This so annoys me that even the taste of best food feels off. On the other hand, soft guitar and piano music enhances my enjoyment of any dish. Plus, other effects such as the color, shape, and size of the dinnerware, the lighting in the room, and how a dish is arranged play an important role in the enjoyment of the dining experience.

What I don’t like is far-out ideas in food like fried roaches, purple milk, and green colored chicken. Some cooks, thinking they are being artistic, dare to color the items in an unexpected fashion. Also, some restaurants use extremely dim lighting under the veil of instilling romanticism to the dining experience; that is a no-no, because I like to see what I am eating.

I am not a romantic when it comes to food. I am a realist and I like to see what I am eating. In addition, food is not someone to become romantically involved with. If I don’t see it, it may stab me right in the stomach.