I tasted most of the food options, but the food I was most curious about were the following: lemon, apple cider vinegar, sea salt and vinegar chips, and grapefruit.
Preconceived Associations:
sea salt and vinegar — sharp, numbing, salty
lemon — always in need of sugar, trickery, bright
grapefruit — irredeemable, bitter, offensive
apple cider vinegar — easily overwhelming, pungent, sharp
The majority of those food options I do not indulge in on their own. Save for the sea salt and vinegar chips, the foods tend to be accompanied by other contrasting flavors. Even so, I do not enjoy all of them. Whether alone or in a medley of other options, grapefruit tends to be avoided at any cost necessary. Although I expect it to be sour, like a lemon, I feel mislead by its color. I associate flavors of a pinkish shade (and often deeper) to be sweet. Whenever I give grapefruit another chance, hopeful that “this one” will be the sweet one that buries the previous experiences away, I’m deceived. Indeed, none of the food options before the mberry were sweet. Great to know that this one day would not be the exception, and adhere to the rule.
Enlightened Associations:
sea salt and vinegar — sweet, honey barbecue, gentle, smooth, not painful
lemon — subtle, timid, wholesome, subdued, anticlimactic
grapefruit — invigorating, pleasantly surprising, exciting, tantalizing, nectar
apple cider vinegar — a mistake, burning, bitter, offensive, a prank
Curious, excited, and anxious, I gave the mberry ample time to coat my tongue thoroughly. With some hesitation, unsure if I had given it enough time to settle, I took a bite out of my favorite of the food options: the sea salt and vinegar chip. Indeed, my perception of its flavor was wildly different; now, it was so sweet I likened it to a honey barbecue chip. The sensation was so delightful, I was sure to go back for seconds.
Next, the lemon. I’ve had sweet lemons before, but not quite like this. As if sugar had been sprinkled on it, or as though it was lemonade in a solid form, I indulged in the lemon and its peel. It reminded me of a Palestinian lime from my sister’s garden — subtly sweet, without a hint of sour. I also had seconds of this food.
The grapefruit was next (admittedly because I had forgotten about the vinegar at this time), and I was most skeptical of how I would receive it. Grapefruit has never been a hit with me, and yet it was perhaps my favorite experience of the day. Tasting grapefruit so sweet was enough to change my opinion of the fruit, even though I know I’m tasting it in this way under very specific circumstances. If anything, it revived hope in me that I may discover the sweet grapefruit all those grapefruit lovers seem to be lucky enough to find.
After such success with the grapefruit, I had high expectations for the apple cider vinegar. I foolishly took a hefty gulp, and regretted it instantly. The vinegar was not sweet. It burned all the way down my throat. It was the most unpleasant experience of the day, and quite frankly I would have had an unsweetened grapefruit over it any day.
Overall, I enjoyed this experience. I believe going in with low expectations was the key to enjoying it to the extent that I did, and becoming overly excited was a mistake. I do not believe, under any circumstance, will I be open to taking a straight sip of vinegar of any kind. I think I am more inclined now than before to taste the other items, mberry or no. If the food tasted like this once a year, I anticipate my curiosity and excitement for the “one different day” would build and peak, whereas if the food tasted like this all the time my excitement would plateau or come and go with the seasons as they currently do with other fruits.