Eat Bitter

One of my 121 students has kindly recently bought me a book of the Chen Old Frame Form that I am currently learning with Master Wang Hai-Jun. In the rather good preface, the author refers to a phrase 'Eat bitter' which appears to be a common exhortation in his tradition. Mainstream culture really only acknowledges the nice and the easy, anything that needs dedication or (heaven forbid) any pain or discomfort either physically, emotionally or mentally is to be distrusted.

In an article last year I read that culinary tastes across Europe and America are changing in one very similar respect, 'bitter' is becoming less and less common and people avoid it in prefering only the sweet. On our tongues we have receptors for sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami (glutamate). All other flavours are actually aromas, and are sensed by olfaction. Not long ago bitters were taken as apperitifs in drinks, as well as herbal tonics. We speak of 'bitter medicine', that which tastes unpleasant but does us such good. If I remember rightly from school RS lessons, in Passover the Jewish tradition is to eat bitter herbs in remembrance of their exile and enslavement in Babylon. Even on a purely culinary level, it's sad that we are losing appreciation for such a large element of human sensing and taste.

I'll stop there just as I begin to sound like an old fogey.