Mary Roach's Gulp

Mary Roach’s Gulp is a nonfiction book that revolves around the human anatomy, particularly the digestive track and everything that goes into it. She comically works in facts about the “invisible realm we carry around inside” and argues the incorrect information provided by the media, including things such as commercial use and packaging and marketing. An interesting issue that is addressed in the first chapters of the book is the art of wine and olive oil tasting and what goes into the development of such skills.
Roach gives great detail on the process of wine and olive oil tasting, broken down into the “five tastes—-sweet, bitter, salty, sour, and umami (brothy)” and a large variety of smells that also impact the detailed process (page 24).

Taste is subjective, and smell can greatly impact how we might perceive a flavor. Taste is “ephemeral, shaped by trends and fads,” and is more so nose-based than it is actual flavor. Since it’s difficult for people to “gauge quality by flavor,” they tend to judge and purchase wines and other items based on price, which is more often than not the worst way to purchase anything (page 29). Wineries that price their wines at $500 have the same problem as wineries that sell wine for $10. “You can’t make the statement that if it’s low-cost it’s not well made,” a common mistake made by consumers (page 30). The quality of a wine shouldn’t be determined by price, but rather taste. The same goes for olive oil. Olive oil manufacturers in Europe are aware that Americans don’t have the skill to determine good olive oil from bad, so we often carry lower quality oil. Another test was done to find out how to tell good oil from bad, and what to look, taste, and smell for. Roach participated in this test, so was able to provide insight on the tasting. The majority of the test was done with providing different olive oils, and determining the flavor components for each, including “apple, avocado, almond, fetid milk, hemp, crushed ants,” and an assortment of other potential flavors as well (page 33). Another challenge was ranking five oils on differing degrees of bitterness. Most of the tasters failed impressively, ranking by their perceived quality. Over