David Campbell complains about drinking culture in Australia. He admits, however, to having a jaundiced view (hmm, medical pun there) as he is a non drinker. The reason:
Wine is bitter and beer is … well, why anybody would pour that stuff down their throat is one of life's little mysteries....Well, at the very least, it shows a startlingly low level of curiousity. People who stop trying new tastes in either food or drink at their teenage years deserve a degree of ridicule, I reckon. If you say you don't drink for ideological reasons, even if it is not particularly well founded (like saying you never want to lose any degree of self control), that at least makes some kind of sense. But to carry on about the taste for the rest of your life, that's just a bit childish in my books.
I've been asked all sorts of questions: "Is there a health reason?" "Is it a religious belief?" The plain answer — that I don't like the taste — is met with raised eyebrows and a visible turning of the mental wheels: "Hmmm … weird!"
(It just occurred to me that he may be a supertaster, in which case my criticism is unfair. More likely, though, he's just a big .... well, I was going to humourously suggest girl, but that doesn't seem apt considering today's teenagers. He is like my mother, but she's in her 80's and you allow for a degree of lack of experimentation by that age.
I also don't want to suggest that the likes of Campbell should be hassled relentlessly about their abstinence; of course people can chose to not drink for whatever reason they want and don't have to justify it. It's just that if they make silly blanket statements suggesting that all wine is bitter and beer worse than car acid they should expect a rebuke.)
No comments:
Post a Comment