I got excited about this activity from the moment I read the New York Times article “The Miracle Fruit, a Tease for the Taste Buds”. I had no idea a fruit like that existed! To be honest I think my expectations were too high. Please, don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the experience a lot; however, I think my predictions were a little unrealistic. I thought everything was going to taste very different. As a consequence I was not as surprised as you might have expected.
My associations didn’t change dramatically. Probably I got the weirdest ones after eating a grape. What automatically came to mind was: a) sweetened figs, b) something this sweet cannot be healthy.
I think it would be okay if something like this would happen once a year, but I wouldn’t like it to be all the time. I love lemons and limes the way they are! Nevertheless, I’m also aware that sooner or later I would get used to it (it will be the new normal).
Something that would have been amazing (although I’m not sure if possible at all) is not to have been told about the specific effects of the fruit. We could have been prompted to work in pairs. Student A would pick some food from the table, while Student B would eat it with his/her eyes closed (careful with food allergies!) Then Student A would ask Student B to guess each one of the options and to tell him/her the associations that come to mind. The process should be repeated exchanging the roles of the students. Finally, the food would be revealed in the order it was tasted. I believe the surprise effect would be maximized in this way.