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Culinary Taxonomy

Classification of organisms by flavor
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Appearance is a convenient way to organize life, but you can't judge a book by its cover. Instead of classifying living organisms by visible characteristics, which can be deceiving, why not by their comparative deliciousness?

I'm partial to roast beef, with carrots, onions (for flavor), new potatoes, starting with a garden salad and breadsticks. True science requires the addition of a fine red wine, in this case. But I've been told to start by comparing escargot with boiled okra. If you're doing research along these lines, let's combine our notes. I'm particularly interested in what I should have for dessert.

Amos Kito, Sep 17 2002

Culinary Taxidermy Culinary_20Taxidermy
Posted to help avoid confusion. [Boomershine, Sep 18 2010]

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       You could call the compiled taxonomy the "olfactorials."
bristolz, Sep 17 2002
  

       I think that we're gradually edging towards a periodic table of food aren't we? Comestibles should be grouped not just by taste but also by digestion time. So, the chocolate flavoured foods would range from the 'wafer thin mint' at the light end through Chocolate Spongecake with Chocolate Custard and on to Mississippi Mud Pie at the heavy end whilst the cardboard flavoured foods would start with crisp breads and range through corn flakes, rice cakes, choux pastry and actual cardboard.
DrBob, Sep 17 2002
  

       The periodic table sounds good, but what about the "axis" idea esposed in DSM-IV and its predecessors ? That's a good way of applying classifications, too.   

       The periodic table idea lends itself to ideas like the benign stiff being the noble gases, and the dangerous stuff (chilli, curry, chocolate) fitting in with the Lanthanides and Actinides. Or maybe the Chilli should be in with the alkali metals ?
8th of 7, Sep 17 2002
  

       Wheat flour = Fe.
RayfordSteele, Sep 19 2002
  

       Wouldn't this idea be settled by using cookbook? Anyway, people have varying tastes, so it would be difficult to categorize by taste, unless you, or whomever are on some board of food critics. I do like this idea, though. I am partial for fetuccini with broccoli, enchiladas, quiches, and chow mein with beef and broccoli. Don't forget garlic spaghetti!
darkknight_152002, Jul 27 2003
  

       Pulled this one out of the archives for re-voting.   

       Deserves much better than a 3 to 1 scone to bone ratio.
doctorremulac3, Sep 16 2010
  

       Hmmmm - tastes like fugu...
MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 16 2010
  

       Hopelessly subjective, but I love the idea.[+]   

       (I know of at least three species of wild blueberries [genus--*vaccinium] that are indistinguishable in some of their leafy and twiggy variants. I can tell them apart by eating one ripe berry of each.)   

       *one of which is named Vaccinium Deliciosum, as good as it sounds. Apparently, the botanists almost got the idea...
Boomershine, Sep 16 2010
  

       That's a good point - there are quite a few species with specific names like "edulis".
MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 16 2010
  

       I'd like to see it broken into a chart like "Squirrel family: chipmunk, yak, breem, certain cheeses (subgroup). "Tastes like chicken family: Breem again, gopher, ancient glacier encapsulated pre-historic chicken..."   

       Might even find some secret to the universe like all the plant and animal flavors come around full circle like in a color wheel and eventually taste like chicken again.
doctorremulac3, Sep 16 2010
  

       as long as I'm not the only one who read this as "Culinary Taxidermy"
FlyingToaster, Sep 16 2010
  

       You are, and you should be very worried by that.
8th of 7, Sep 16 2010
  

       [Toast] You aren't. [link]
Boomershine, Sep 18 2010
  

       //there are quite a few species with specific names like "edulis".//   

       Mushrooms, mostly, no? e.g. Boletus edulis.   

       Bad thing about the mycological stuff is that so much is described as 'edible,' which usually just means 'not poisonous.'   

       Personally, I need more info than that before I will eat something, especially mushrooms. "Tastes like chicken,'" would be much better than "edible, but not choice" (taken from my favorite mushroom ID book.)
Boomershine, Sep 18 2010
  

       //Mushrooms, mostly, no?//   

       Catha edulis
Passiflora edulis
Mytilus edulis
Carissa edulis
Inga edulis
Dacryodes edulis
Coula edulis
Brahea edulis
Mulinia edulis
Cordeauxia edulis
Fockea edulis (no, really)
Casimiroa edulis
Pyxicephalus edulis
and many more.
MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 18 2010
  

       //Might even find some secret to the universe like all the plant and animal flavors come around full circle like in a color wheel and eventually taste like chicken again.//   

       This is brilliant. Fragrances, are in fact, organized in such a way...although not *quite* the same: no "smells like chicken," as far as I know.   

       [Amos] I suggest Huckleberry/peach cobbler, topped with cream. Alternatively, Vanilla tapioca pudding, topped with diced papaya, and drizzled with Kahlua.   

       Escargot and okra? The former is over rated, the latter under, IMO.
Boomershine, Sep 18 2010
  

       // fockea edulis (no, really)//   

       Wikipedia: "The tuber is edible after the alkaloids in the latex have been inactivated by cooking. Some parts of the plants are also poisonous."   

       Fockeaing botanists.
Boomershine, Sep 18 2010
  


 

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