pickles and pleasure. i know that the two may seem unrelated, but hear me out.
there are two different types of people in this world. the ones who like pickles and the ones who don’t. i’m sure you can guess which camp i am in.
now given that this is a much less controversial topic than that of cilantro, i am confident that i can celebrate the namesake of this newsletter with relative ease (more on the juice to come). however, i will preface my manifesto by acknowledging that my intention is not to sway you from one camp to the other. we are all entitled to our own opinions and this is my way of honouring mine. i hope you will enjoy this piece regardless of whether or not you order a burger with extra pickles.
i would argue that pickles are an incredible asset to a meal. why? because they act as a palate cleanser that allows each bite to take on a new journey different from the previous one. i like to think that the process of eating a meal is similar to that of listening to a piece of music. you, the audience, are taken along a journey that is peppered with different dynamics of beats, pitches, and chords that all come together in a harmonious manner. rather than crescendos and adagios, a meal is made up of a variety of flavours that can dance together on your tongue.
with food, every bite is an opportunity for you to conduct a new measure for the song that is your meal. even at the best restaurants in the world, the chefs are in full control of what the customers eat, up until the dish gets served to the diner. if a chef would come around and spoon-feed each guest (a potentially promising restaurant concept), this would be a different story. but with the way things are you, the customer, have the creative agency to put your own spin on your dinner.
the pickle is a magical thing because it clears the palate to make room for the next bite. akin to coffee beans one may find while shopping for a new perfume, pickles make every bite count. not because it wipes the slate clean, but because they give you something pleasurable to build upon.
too often, especially when eating something on the richer end, the taste of food can become muddled and less prominent. it’s almost as if my palate gets exhausted by the overhaul of the same flavours over and over again. take for example a burger. to eat a hamburger with a side of pickles is a very different experience than eating one without. personally, i would probably forgo the latter experience by ordering something else because a burger without a pickle is like a mimosa without the bubbles — a bit flat, and not much fun.
maybe my palate has just been conditioned to crave something tangy and tart in every meal. growing up in Japan, the majority of meals include some form of tsukemono (the Japanese word for pickles). after a Google search or two, i found that pickled elements are a cornerstone of japanese cooking. Miki Kawasaki from Serious Eats writes about how the addition of 漬物 (tsukemono, japanese word for pickles) acts as a bridge to create a sense of harmony among the other elements in the meal. Richer, heavier flavours are given a facelift from the piquancy that comes from a pickles pickled nature.
do i love pickes or do i just love to eat? the question doesn’t keep me up at night, but its safe to say that i love what pickles bring to the eating experience, but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying them as a solo act.
thank you, dear pickle. for some, you are a supporting role, but to me, you are always the star of the show.
Great read. Even greater pickle tower.