As beauty is in the eye of the beholder, taste is in the palate of the diner. I always remember the story about a U.S. air base that was closed down in Turkey many years ago. In the emergency shelter they had tons of survival biscuits (high calorie biscuits loaded with fat). As these were at out of date by the time of base closing it was decided to bury the biscuits in a trench. This was done and all was good until the base was turned over to the locals, who, upon gaining access to the base, were curious as to what was buried in that trench so they dug it up and found what they perceived to be a treasure trove of a local delicacy, rancid fat. The local delicacy was essentially rancid yak butter, and evidentally those survival biscuits, however rancid they were, became a delicacy to the local palate, and all was good. Not exactly my cup of tea, but who am I to argue?
On a side note: I was living in Chicago when the first woodfired pizzas were introduced there. What a fiasco that was! You see, the locals were not used to that type of pizza so it was perceived to be burnt, and they were sent back to the kitchen with the admonishment "this pizza is burnt!" Then the word went out that "you don't want to eat at a pizzeria that has one of those wood burning ovens, because they burn the pizzas". That really slowed down woodfired pizzas in the Windy City. It's all good now because they are used to it, and know what to expect, but it sure didn't begin that way.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
