One of the things that can’t be given in life is ‘Great taste’. I often talk about beauty. But how is beauty expressed? It is expressed by having great taste. Usually when people say that money can’t buy class, what they are saying is that money won’t really buy you great taste.
Taste is such a meritocratic thing. You can’t jump the queue of great taste. You must work up the ladder of great taste. It takes an investment of time and energy. It takes commitment. It takes experimentation.
You could have great taste in clothing but not great culinary taste. You could be good with beers but not be good with spirits. Taste is not always transferrable.
Great taste is an enduring quality, finding what you really love and being ready to die on that hill.
I see this in my family. Everyone is good at something. My brother is good at food. He invests time in it. I guess because he also does reviews, he’s interfaced with many restaurants and many foods. And he is also picky. I now believe great taste also calls for pickiness.
I got a good taste for my coffee. It is largely through experiment. I remember going to Bbrood and trying out a different thing every day. Until I found my heart in hot chocolate. And wherever I have gone, I have almost never gone wrong with hot chocolate. Also, because it just fits in right for every occasion. A hot afternoon, a cold evening, an early morning. A latte is too much milk for me, espresso calls for a super charged moment, and Americano is too much water for me.
Same with beer. I can always tell you. You are never wrong with a Stout. If you for example acquire the taste of Guinness, you never go wrong. But I can also say, that look, Nile Special is a good lager, with a good body.
One of the virtues of life is learning to cultivate good taste in your areas of interest. See with books, I can always root for Dostoevsky, for a James Baldwin, for a Kafka, for a Murakami. And because of this, I can now read the first page of a book and know whether the author is worth one’s time.
Think of taste as touching many things so that you develop that instinct, that sixth sense for the things worth touching. My sister dropped me in on black pepper. And I can tell you, nothing resurrects most bland food than some seasoning of black pepper and salt.
The thing with taste is overall, your life becomes beautiful. You start to enjoy a higher quality of life simply because you have known what you really want.
Like, I have tasted so much of CJs food, I now know my combination of choices on any day. If it is the main meal, I will die on the hill of the Mexican rice and Caribbean jerk chicken. But, I must also have a proper serving of Guacamole. That rice mingled with Guacamole. It is heaven. And there is even an order in which they must be eaten. The chicken first. Then then gonja in between, then the salads. Then finally the rice and guacamole combo. And because I always eat it, I can know when they make a mistake on anything. When they don’t get the avocado right.
Same with shoes, same with jackets. Taste is cultivated over time. It is an investment. But it is always a worthy investment.
I have another picky friend. But you can always trust her opinion. Like on bread, really, in Uganda, Bread house currently wins. And it is really fine bread. The kind you could eat in a Cafe in Paris.
To summarize, taste is learning to read the vibe and energy of things. It is that ability to see a restaurant with the fakest signpost yet realizing they have the best food. It is spotting some maize being roasted and knowing it will slap. It is choosing the right ka-cloth for your Rolex.
Taste is still the one game you can’t cheat on!