Not sure about the title….
I made it into another edition of TheLondonPaper - although I didn’t supply the title.
This time I also got put on the website.
A tasteful pleasure of adulthood
Something my dad said to me when I was very young has stayed with me all my life. I was eight years old (we are talking the mid-70s here – Star Wars, Kevin Keegan, crap telly…) and he decided that I should try a small sip of whisky. His rationale was this: if I saw alcohol as being just the preserve of adults, I would grow up wanting to try this mysterious substance in secret – ultimately confusing drinking with hidden adult pleasures. Ergo: demystify alcohol and create a responsible drinker.He tried the same thing with cigars. In his defence, these were simpler times. Although the photograph I have of 8-year-old me holding a lit cigar in one hand and a glass of scotch in the other is disturbing on a whole host of levels.
I’d love to say that his brand of reverse psychology worked… certainly I am no binge drinker, but then I’ve only just managed to quit smoking after 15 years of 30 roll-ups a day. You win some, you lose some.
Back to the point.
After I coughed most of the whisky over dad and the paisley furniture, he told me that it was an acquired taste, and that one has to work hard to acquire it. At the time this seemed like a stupid idea. Why would anyone spend time working at liking something that makes you retch?
Looking back though, the words “acquired taste” seem more and more powerful. As I become increasingly disenchanted with the baubles and trappings of 21st-century living, taking pleasure in the basest of human comforts is becoming ever more relevant. Indeed, some of the most delicious culinary and liquid treats involve things that, when first tasted, make you want to spit: olives, whisky, Stilton…
I have a two-year-old son, and like many of my peers, I am engaging in that age-old game of trying to improve upon the perceived shortcomings of my own parents. In this case, however, I know that if nothing else he will grow up seeking out those exclusive pleasures that can only be achieved when we acquire a taste. He won’t be smoking cigars until he’s at least 10 though.
Written by exmonkey on April 5th, 2007 with
4 comments.
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chris
#1. April 5th, 2007, at 10:40 PM.
” by Marc Curtis. Friday, 4 May 2007″ that really worried me for a second. its a bit like when we occasionally get a copy of the irish post in barnham and its date is the coming weekend.