(We were talking about cheese.)He comes from a place where food is important. Where people are connected to what they eat. Where delicate differences are examined and savoured and celebrated.
He spoke of Another Place, where lots of stuff is BIG! (cars, buildings, personalities, serving sizes). Where palates are (he suggested) assaulted with powerful flavours: salty, spicy, sweet. Where subtlety is disregarded.
It is a pity (he said). And I agreed.
And then I thought some more. It is the same, I think, for people. Often folk who are loud and funny and confident and who achieve in visible and tangible ways are held up. But sometimes it is the faint, ethereal, more finespun aspects of self, that are far more interesting.
