Taste the sensation

On Wednesday mornings, I volunteer in my son's kindergarten classroom to help with activities. They've been studying the five senses and this week's sense is taste. I was charged with conducting the scientific experiment in which the kinderlings taste different foods and record either a happy face if they liked the flavor or a frowny face (the anti-happy face) if they did not like the flavor.

They were tasting, in order, the following flavors: sour (gummy candy), salty (chips), bitter (baking chocolate), and sweet (Hershey Kisses). I knew the baking chocolate was very bitter (there's no sugar in it), so I gave the first group tiny chunks of it, smaller than a chocolate chip. They ate it and of course, all of them hated it and identified it on their score sheets with a “Mr. Yuck” poison symbol (you’ve probably seen this…it look like a frowny face, only more intense). One of them nearly threw up on me... I staved off his spasms by suggesting he go get a drink of water. But let me tell you I was really worried as I sat there in the floor with this 3-foot tall person on eye-level with me while he was making the puke-face at me.

After that, the other groups all got very tiny shavings which was still more than enough to get the flavor. And I immediately sent them all to the water fountain to chase away the taste. By the time I finished with the last group of miniature thugs, I was actually enjoying the third step of the experiment, relishing their “Oh my god, that’s NASTY!” faces once the severity of the baking chocolate’s flavor hit. And that one little boy who always annoys me by being loud and not listening to my instructions…oh yeah, you bet yer sweet patootie he got a bigger piece than everyone else.

Playing on XM: Flying Burrito Brothers