Against Drink Judging
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on August 14th, 2011 4:34 am by HL
Against Drink Judging
I of course have my preferences in beverage, but there’s something odd about the moralism of Aminatou Sow and Phoebe Connelly list of drinks that you should be ashamed to order in public. Nobody should be ashamed to order drinks they enjoy in public. Many people could perhaps benefit from trying some new things, but […]
I of course have my preferences in beverage, but there’s something odd about the moralism of Aminatou Sow and Phoebe Connelly list of drinks that you should be ashamed to order in public. Nobody should be ashamed to order drinks they enjoy in public. Many people could perhaps benefit from trying some new things, but the idea that people should be feeling shame over their tastes strikes me as wrongheaded.
I also note that the list in part seems to simply reflect a prejudice against “girlie” (i.e. sweet) cocktails. One of the greatest tricks the devil ever pulled was to persuade the world that there’s something inherently superior about the bitter flavors that men (on average) tend to prefer. This is some real science according to real scientist Marcia Pelchat. Preferences along the sweet/bitter spectrum are a biological construct, one where women tend to be positioned more in favor of sweetness and men more in favor of bitterness. Which is all fine. But a lot of people then go around and socially privilege the bitter flavor, which is not fine.
