For today’s writing prompt, let’s wrap up ways to use sensory details to improve our writing. (Our five senses are sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch, but today we’ll focus on taste.)
Have you ever tasted something so sour that it made your lips pucker and your eyes water? Or, how about something so spicy you could almost feel smoke coming out your ears? Or, how about something so disgusting you couldn’t get to a trash can to spit it out fast enough?
When my daughter was in high school, we attended an elective fair. You know, the type of gathering where there are booths set up so students and parents can learn about electives like drama or the German language? One booth was for the school’s culinary class, and they were passing out samples of marzipan, small bites of decorated almond candy dough.
We each popped one of those suckers into our mouths and immediately bugged our eyes at one another. Hands down, it was one of the most disgusting things we had ever tasted. Trying not to gag, we quickly, but politely, walked through the crowd and found a trash can in a deserted hallway. Let me tell you, we expelled those little mounds of awfulness like ammo from a cannon. To this day, I have no idea why that marzipan tasted so bad, but it did make us wonder if any student signed up for the class!
Pamela’s Prompt: Stop and Taste
For this exercise, you may want to experiment. (I don’t recommend marzipan.) Since it’s the holidays, this is a great time to taste some old favorites and new dishes.
Here are some things I like to taste during the holidays:
- Hot chocolate with peppermint.
- Pecan pie with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.
- Pan dulce (Spanish for sweet bread) coffee from H-E-B, my favorite grocery store.
- Homemade cheese wafers with cayenne pepper.
- Sweet potato casserole topped with marshmallows.
- Fruit cake.
Here, also, are some things on my food bucket list to try in the new year:
- Greek chicken and potatoes.
- Thai red curry noodle soup.
- Oyster stew.
Here’s a thought: What if one of your characters could no longer taste anything (for whatever reason). What if that character’s job depends on being able to taste, for better or worse? Perhaps she is the chef in a five-star restaurant in Paris or maybe she is tasked with making sure the President of the United States never comes in contact with peanuts because he is deathly allergic?
What conflict might that create in your plot? How might that change the interactions he or she has with other characters? Happy writing!