Taste Your Words

And eat your eggs – Can you TASTE your words? When different sensatory experiences blend together, it’s called “synesthesia.” Only about 1% of the population does this, but some researchers think we ALL do it at times. A chef who writes menus for his restaurant has learned that lower-pitched sounds are associated by most people with larger, more rounded shapes, so he wants to use descriptive words that lend themselves to being pronounced in a lower tone of voice.

In BBC News, Victoria Gill quotes chef Heston Blumenthal as saying, “We’ve been giving people dishes and asking them questions about them, including is that food more of a “bouba” or a “kiki?” Or is it a “maluma” or “takete?” Two examples of opposites are brie cheese, which is “very maluma” and cranberries, which are “very takete.” He experiments by giving diners at his restaurant two plates of food, saying one of these is a “takete” and the other one is a “maluma,” but he doesn’t tell them which is which until after they’ve eaten it. This will help him create names and descriptions for new dishes he wants to serve.

Since eggs are round, egg dishes would definitely be given one of those “lower pitched” names. It’s good to know that eggs are now considered same to eat. Not eating eggs has little effect on your cholesterol levels, which is something Anne Strieber told you a long time ago! In fact, there is evidence that eggs may reduce another heart disease risk factor: high blood pressure.

New research shows that egg proteins that act like a popular group of prescription medications in lowering blood pressure. In the new study, Jianping Wu and Kaustav Majumder note that eggs are an inexpensive source of high-quality protein and other nutrients. Egg consumption, however, has decreased during the last 40 years amid concerns about cholesterol. Recent studies do suggest that healthy people can eat eggs without increasing their heart disease risk. Other research hinted that certain egg proteins might have effects similar to ACE inhibitors, prescription drugs used to treat high blood pressure.

BBC News quotes researcher Bruce Griffin as saying, “The ingrained misconception linking egg consumption to high blood cholesterol and heart disease must be corrected. The amount of saturated fat in our diet exerts an effect on blood cholesterol that is several times greater than the relatively small amounts of dietary cholesterol. The

NOTE: This news story, previously published on our old site, will have any links removed.