Tastes Like Red

In our modern world, a world where "hamburgers" are made from soy (ie: fast-food restaurants), tortilla chips are covered in an orange powder and flavored with nacho cheese, and drive-thru coffee shops dot suburban landscapes, is it possible that color has so been so associated with flavor, the two have actually become synonymous with each other?

I love salt-water taffy; it's like a little taste of summer all through the year. The chewier the better; I like to feel as though the candy will actually yank out my molars as I bite down upon it. Now some taffy is better than others, the sweet flavors are creamier, a greater variety of flavors, and of course the prominence of that texture which I love. But this isn't a story about one of those greater salt water taffies, this is about the base taffy, from this little, customer-less candy shop, taffy that been sitting in the bin for years.

My husband and I were out getting coffee, and I was munching on my latest sweet treat. He, not having the same sweet tooth, nor really liking the molar-yanking texture of taffy, was refraining. I wasn't truly happy with this batch of candy setting before me, individually wrapped in wax paper. They were a bit odd. Overly dyed, too sweet, and peculiarly many of the flavors tasted similarly, no matter what color the taffy was. That is most of pieces tasted alike, all but the glistening red, overly dyed pieces of taffy.

As I unwrapped the sticky glob of sugary sweetness, I remarked just how red this red piece of taffy was. I popped the glob in my mouth and began to chew, slowly at first to soften the taffy and begin to release the flavor. Then my chewing accelerated, as I tried to isolate just what this flavor was. I swallowed, but I still could not decide, strawberry, cherry, watermelon, it seemed to be many different flavors all at once. I dove into the bag of taffy setting on my lap, desperate to find another glowing, bright orb in order to define that illusive flavor. Many minutes later, my tongue now temporarily dyed red, and all of the solid red taffy eaten from my sack, I came to the conclusion that the flavor was simply-- red.

Perhaps the maker couldn't decide just how to flavor his newest red concoction, and combined all the red flavors he knew. Perhaps he was just lazy. Or perhaps he was just succumbing to this new fang-dangled, fast-food nation. Whatever the reason, I'm not sure if I like my foods (even if they are artificial, like salt-water taffy) to be flavored like colors.