3 ms·

Obviously I disagree with this; the appreciation of many products take some level of experience to understand what subtilty and nuance to look for. If you we'r

Obviously I disagree with this; the appreciation of many products take some level of experience to understand what subtilty and nuance to look for. If you we're to use Mast Brothers chocolate as your "high quality" reference, you would be learning to identify the wrong attributes as indicators of quality.

userbinator 11y ago
If you we're to use Mast Brothers chocolate as your "high quality" reference, you would be learning to identify the wrong attributes as indicators of quality. Does that really matter though? Taste is highly subjective. Friends have given me what they consider very high quality, expensive chocolate, often complete with some fancy marketing blurb, and yet it doesn't taste any better to me than the more generic stuff I can get for far cheaper; but that doesn't mean I'm wrong.
- eyeJam 11y ago
  You're 100% correct and I want to add that most people haven't trained themselves to taste well-enough to tell the difference. Taste is a trainable sense just like eyesight and hearing: a good painter must learn to "see" and a good musician must learn to "hear". Your second point is dead-on though. Only food obsessives would really notice or care that Mast Bros are frauds.
  - isolate 11y ago
    What's the difference between a food obsessive and somebody that has trained their sense of taste?
- JasonCEC 11y ago
  My other comment above is a better reply to this: > Quality is a tricky word, but in terms of the appreciation of craft goods, your ability to identify the subtleties that make more higher quality products _better_ is a learned trait. If your references are wrong, or you miss out on the identification of a nuance, you haven't learned from the experience or you've learned bad information. For example, individuals who say "I can't taste the difference between a $30 and $300 bottle of wine" are not _wrong_ - they just lack the formative experiences and education to appreciate the attributes that the more expensive product has. There is an entire world of great flavor out there that is very hard to perceive; for example, I don't eat any artificial flavorings, preservatives, or food coloring, and when actually doing tastings for work, there are lists of black list foods and cut-off times for a clean palate - we go to that extent because anything less would cause us to miss what makes that product unique and special - we would be entirely unable to perceive it, learn from it, and appreciate it.
  - morgante 11y ago
    What is the point of learning to identify those higher quality items though? If I can derive just as much pleasure from regular, mass-produced chocolate (perhaps because my taste buds aren't adjusted sufficiently), what exactly is the incentive to train my taste buds so that I have to spend more money on chocolate to gain the same pleasure?
    - JasonCEC 11y ago
      That's a personal question, isn't it? :) More seriously, it's not always a choice - I got into it because a few products hit me and I said "WOW, s/coffee|chocolate|beer|wine|tea can taste like that?". It's Pandora box and I'll never be satisfied knowing better is out there now!
      - isolate 11y ago
        I went through all that but then I started to develop an appreciation for junk food (Coke, etc.) because it tastes like my childhood. I still buy the expensive stuff but I'm not hardcore about avoiding crap the way I used to be, and I find I still enjoy some of it. (I am sipping on a Autumnal 1st flush SFTGFOP Darjeeling from Goomtee Estate right now.)

userbinator 11y ago

If you we're to use Mast Brothers chocolate as your "high quality" reference, you would be learning to identify the wrong attributes as indicators of quality. Does that really matter though? Taste is highly subjective. Friends have given me what they consider very high quality, expensive chocolate, often complete with some fancy marketing blurb, and yet it doesn't taste any better to me than the more generic stuff I can get for far cheaper; but that doesn't mean I'm wrong.

eyeJam 11y ago
You're 100% correct and I want to add that most people haven't trained themselves to taste well-enough to tell the difference. Taste is a trainable sense just like eyesight and hearing: a good painter must learn to "see" and a good musician must learn to "hear". Your second point is dead-on though. Only food obsessives would really notice or care that Mast Bros are frauds.
- isolate 11y ago
  What's the difference between a food obsessive and somebody that has trained their sense of taste?
JasonCEC 11y ago
My other comment above is a better reply to this: > Quality is a tricky word, but in terms of the appreciation of craft goods, your ability to identify the subtleties that make more higher quality products _better_ is a learned trait. If your references are wrong, or you miss out on the identification of a nuance, you haven't learned from the experience or you've learned bad information. For example, individuals who say "I can't taste the difference between a $30 and $300 bottle of wine" are not _wrong_ - they just lack the formative experiences and education to appreciate the attributes that the more expensive product has. There is an entire world of great flavor out there that is very hard to perceive; for example, I don't eat any artificial flavorings, preservatives, or food coloring, and when actually doing tastings for work, there are lists of black list foods and cut-off times for a clean palate - we go to that extent because anything less would cause us to miss what makes that product unique and special - we would be entirely unable to perceive it, learn from it, and appreciate it.
- morgante 11y ago
  What is the point of learning to identify those higher quality items though? If I can derive just as much pleasure from regular, mass-produced chocolate (perhaps because my taste buds aren't adjusted sufficiently), what exactly is the incentive to train my taste buds so that I have to spend more money on chocolate to gain the same pleasure?
  - JasonCEC 11y ago
    That's a personal question, isn't it? :) More seriously, it's not always a choice - I got into it because a few products hit me and I said "WOW, s/coffee|chocolate|beer|wine|tea can taste like that?". It's Pandora box and I'll never be satisfied knowing better is out there now!
    - isolate 11y ago
      I went through all that but then I started to develop an appreciation for junk food (Coke, etc.) because it tastes like my childhood. I still buy the expensive stuff but I'm not hardcore about avoiding crap the way I used to be, and I find I still enjoy some of it. (I am sipping on a Autumnal 1st flush SFTGFOP Darjeeling from Goomtee Estate right now.)