I know there are folks who can't live without an after-lunch cookie, or a piece of chocolate at the movies; food lovers who drool over pictures of brownies on blog recipes, and thrill at ordering dessert at restaurants. I've always so enjoyed being around people who take this kind of pleasure in the sweeter side of life, and can find joy in a scoop of ice cream or a bite of candy.
But I've recently had to come to terms with the fact that I've become a savory person.
Not that my personality is savory—I'm still selfish, thoughtless, and a total nag with a mouth like a sailor—but I'm much more drawn to savory things, to the point of actually finding sweet treats profoundly overwhelming. While all my dining companions are arguing over which cake or tart to order at the end of a meal, I'm left wishing I had a few more bites of dinner.
Don't get me wrong: I can enjoy a cookie or an incredible piece of tiramisu every once in a while. It's just that the "every once in a while" seems to get more and more occasional, and the amount of whatever dessert it is that I find myself able to eat happily becoming less and less.
My perception of "sweetness" has changed so drastically since cleaning up my diet that a little goes a really, really, really long way: Things that never even registered on the cloying scale are now completely off the charts. Dark chocolate needs to be darker; hot chai definitely needs more spice and less sugar; unsweetened soy milk is the only type I can bear; and even certain kinds of fruit are way overpowering. (Kiwi, I'm looking at you.)
Have you ever found this happening to you? Is this how people manage to eventually kick their salt habits, by cutting it out until it becomes such a rare flavor as to be amplified to the point of overwhelming even in small doses? Will I ever be a normal cake-eater again!?
Eh, if I never have another piece of cake for the rest of my life (which won't happen), I know I'll live. As long as there's another bite of dinner, anyway.
Oh Meister, I am in my 40's and still battling the immature "sweet tooth" battle. You know those horrid cookies at the grocery store right when you walk in that have frosting on top and THEN sprinkles. They are filed with weird dye colors like sky blue or pastel yellow... Love'em. How horrid, I tell myself. But I drool over them. I have become more savory for sure, I don't crave chocolaty things the way I used to. A simple spice cookie like Biscoff can make me giddy with happiness. But, those DARN supermarket evil things...that frosting...that evil frosting...
ReplyDeletei have a preference to eat savory foods but i do enjoy creating sweets more. i used to enjoy sour or citrus notes, anything lemony was my go-to.. but i have outgrown that.. i think like everything, your tastes evolve, your palette matures and things take on new flavor and textures on your tongue. it happens!
ReplyDeleteI am in total agreement, Meister. <3.
ReplyDeleteAll the savory, always all the savory!
ReplyDeleteI am definitely more into savory. Which doesn't mean I don't love sweet, but I have started cutting down on sugar, which means I find some things overwhelming. I will however never say no to chocolate or scoop of ice cream. That said, there are a ton of desserts I can easily skip.
ReplyDeleteI am SO with you. The entire holiday season, I didn't eat one single candy or cookie or sweet. Leftover mashed potatoes, however...
ReplyDeleteI too went the entire holiday season, no red velvet cake, no CC cookies...now the meal itself was on time! Sweets are not as important to my taste buds as they used to be, I am happy about it...
DeleteHi, I have just come across your blog and this post got my attention as I just posted today about how I had a definite preference for savoury but that has now turned into very much a sweet tooth :)
ReplyDeleteI'm very much a savory person. But preferably, I would like an interesting combination of savory and sweet...like maple pancakes with bacon. :-)
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