Mono Monday - Taste

I believe most of us have been guilty of taking the sense of taste for granted.
 
Our days are punctuated by breaks for food and drink, and our social life is tied up with sharing food, wine and conversation with friends and family. Taste can also evoke strong emotions and memories; we anticipate the changing seasons and the delicious food that accompanies that change; such as  turkey at Christmas, chocolate at Easter, strawberries in the height of summer.  It is so much more than just eating to maintain health.
 
 My husband M and I have always enjoyed the pleasure of good food and drink, and even indulged in a fine dining treat instead of presents for our birthdays, not to mention celebrating Christmas and our wedding anniversary with a fabulous meal, somewhere special. 
 
In 2014, M got neck cancer and the surgery and subsequent brutal chemotherapy and radiotherapy damaged his taste buds and left him with an ever present unpleasant metallic taste (to the exclusion of all other tastes), he also had difficulty swallowing.  Every mealtime became a trial instead of a pleasure, and at the height of his treatment he was only able to eat sieved tin soup and prescribed nutritional drinks.  We found it very difficult; it felt like one of our great shared pleasures had been lost.  We were advised that ‘most’ people would get their sense of taste back eventually, but it was by no means a given.  Of course, it was better to lose his taste than his life and whilst we knew that, it still made mealtimes so difficult, but it was so important to keep his nutrition levels balanced and his weight loss to a minimum.
 
During this time I tried all sorts of recipes to try and find something that he might be able to taste and like, but to no avail.  Eventually however, after several weeks, I came across a receipe for egg florentine, it was a success, and he actually enjoyed it and managed to eat it all!  We both cried with relief that day!
Happily, his taste has almost completely returned to normal and he can taste most things correctly and as he remembered (except for Maltesers, for some odd reason)! 
 
So now, we both savour every mouthful, never take our food for granted, love having friends over for dinner and it’s wonderful that M can also enjoy wine, beer and our special occasional treat, a bottle of champagne! 
Life is good and we enjoy every day to the full.
 
If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.

J.R.R. Tolkien 


Thanks to Jdo for hosting