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 16 2002

Dessert? Custard, son. You're in the halfbakery now. Lots of custard.
-- UnaBubba, Sep 16 2002


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


So, ex-wives still get to be at the top of the tree, whether we classify by predatory capability or cost?
-- UnaBubba, 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


Habanero = Sodium ?
-- UnaBubba, 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



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