In a Blind Taste Test - Hand-made Collage

During my brief tenure working for the eminent neurologist-author, Oliver Sacks I had an opportunity to conduct experiments on a group of individuals with an endlessly amusing neurological disorder. In ordinary circumstances these people were in complete possession of their faculties. However, once blindfolded they lost the sense of taste. "Is it Chicken Kiev?" I asked as I spoon fed them ketchup. "Yes," they would reply and I would howl with laughter. "Try the veal marsala. It is exquisite," I snickered as I fed them radishes. "Oh, yes!" they affirmed, "You're quite right. It is delicious." What I found so fascinating and funny was not just their instant and completely reversable neurological impairment, but the accompanying blindfold-induced gullibility. Dr. Sacks took exception to my attitude. "They are not 'rubes' as you call them,Young Man. They are human beings."

I guess it was inevitable that I would lose the job after only one day. Nevertheless, I managed to stick around long enough to learn that the condition is traced to a recessive gene not uncommon in families in which bad cooking is passed along the maternal bloodline. Viewed in this light, I now understand why the children of my father's Aunt Esther always ate with their eyes shut.