At 03:29 PM 3/31/01 EST, Charles Alban wrote:
>In a message dated 3/30/01 11:57:49 AM Pacific Standard Time,
>[log in to unmask] writes:
>
><< Out of curiosity, have you tried grinding them withe the husks on?  I find
> that on those occasions when I get pumpkin seeds and often with sunflower
> seeds, as well, I eat about 1/3 of them as is...
>  >>
>Yeah, well -- one of the problems here is that I am not quite sure what I am
>getting. Do the seeds have husks? No, they've already been removed. Since I
>have not gathered the seeds myself, I am often not sure how much processing
>has already been done. The depth of ignorance in this is appalling.

Yes, I could see where that would prove to be a bit of an obstacle.  I'd
try to crack it open and see if it has an outer layer, I guess.

>Incidentally, I gave some of my sunflower seed cake to my room mate, and he
>pronounced it "bland." And then said "you Europeans like this bland stuff."
>To which I was mildly offended, but it set me thinking. Judging from his
>appearance (double chin, pot belly, only 35 years old), and his diet, which
>seems to consist mainly of pizza, pasta, beer, cigarettes and coffee, then
>its not surprising that he can't taste anything. All this high sugar and salt
>consumption, coming from highly processed foods, which comprise 70% of the
>average American's diet, totally kills the sense of taste,

I'd say the cigarettes are very much to blame, as well.  Every long-term
smoker I've known seems to require a high degree of seasoning.

>And this is the difference between Europeans (southern ones, like French,
>Spanish, Italians, etc.) They are highly sensitive to the taste of food. I
>had meatballs in garlic sauce in a Spanish restaurant here the other day --
>it was positively orgasmic! (they have a French chef....)

I'm afraid all I've had are the version one finds here in the US, so have
no "real" sense of comparison!  But I would have to say I've noticed in
general, that the more subtle the flavors of a person's normal food, the
more subtle flavors they seem to be aware of--especially in the absence of
lots of sugar and salt (and possibly pepper).

>And this leads to another theory of mine -- the reason Americans do not drink
>tea is that they cannot taste it. Darjeeling tea is described as the
>champagne of teas. That is very subtle, and if you are used to freezing cold
>soft drinks, or highly sugared milky coffee, you would never detect this. I
>can tell the difference between Assam and Darjeeling teas, but you must be
>able to taste properly. Paleo people, and native Americans, would have made
>herbal teas, so this is good to drink.

Most likely.  As I've always had a fondness for subtlty in tastes, and not
one to like things with much salt or sugar (unless that was the particular
taste I was after--like chips with malt vinegar and salt or something), I
do know that I have always been *able* to tell the differences between
things (like coke and pepsi--the original formulas, coke had less
carbonation and a spicy-cinnamony overtone, pepsi a more citric-acid after
taste--I've yet to find anyone else who actually tasted them to that
degree!).  I remember friends commenting that "all herbal tea tastes like
grass" (like how would they know what grass tastes like?  personally, I've
tried several types of grass and very few herbal teas do, with the obvious
exceptions of things like horsetail, oat straw, alfalfa... :).

Dianne