[2022-09-25] Taste test
The first taste test that I can remember was the Pepsi Challenge, which began in 1975. People were invited to blindly taste Pepsi and Coke, with the majority choosing the upstart Pepsi.
We often do taste tests at home. Occasionally, we do blind taste tests, but mostly we gather around the kitchen table to sample a selection of foods that one of us has purchased for the family to try.
Today, Mel and I went to a craft market in Kanata where we bought a selection of goods from the Pie Bar, a bakery in Westport: a chicken and vegetable handpie, a squash and caramelized onion handpie, a lemon cruffin (croissant dough baked in the shape of a muffin, filled with lemon cream) and a cinnamon roll. We also purchased a black currant seltzer and some chocolate with crispy rice. Back at home, we pulled out the cutting boards—one for the savoury pies and one for the sweets—and started dividing each goodie in four (Shane had joined Chris, Mel and me for the morning). The winner from among our selection of foods was the lemon cruffin, followed by the cinnamon roll.
Over the years, we've done various taste tests: radlers, Cheddar cheeses, European chocolates. The advantage of buying a selection of goods and then dividing them among three or four people is that we get to try a lot of products without consuming more than we want. It's guilt-free, whether we love or hate the purchase. It's all good market research for the next time we buy from that establishment.
Taste testing has become a family tradition. Mel, in particular, loves to discover new foods from around the world and to bring them home for us to try. I hope that my kids will look back on our family taste tests as fondly as I remember the Pepsi Challenge commercials. (Apparently when you play football in the mud, there's nothing like a post-game Pepsi).
