Multisensory Recollection from Flavor

In our cupping data, there is more than one distinctive perception stimulated. One of these involves crossmodal interactions with the target perception in an imagistic simile based on image schemas. The foremost function of this kind of simile is to create a scenario to broaden the target concept to an abstract. However, the crossmodal mapping highly depends on personal experiences related to the information in the source domain and differences between the speaker’s and the listener’s perspectives. These mappings are dynamic and fleeting in particular. For instance, when the pungent flavor is described as similar to a Brazilian lady dancing on the tongue, besides the visual image that “pops up” due to our natural preference

mentioned in the former section, the auditory image of Brazilian samba (dance) and the kinesthetic image are evoked from person to person. Moreover, the example of a flavor feeling as if one is walking into a flourishing garden evokes a visual scenario and a kinesthetic image (walking). Tactile feelings of “walking” or touching the ground of the garden may be aroused as well. In terms of crossmodal interaction, these examples engage, in fact, one-to-many perceptual mappings.

However, some have argued that these examples involving the PROCESS schema is actually nonperceptual owing to the schema’s feature of not being tied to any particular perception (Grady, 2005:38). In my point of view, these examples are partly perceptual and partly not. On the one hand, since the action of entering a garden is regarded as a single motion in context, to separate the perceptual component from the action, for example, the sight of seeing flowers, the hearing of swinging plants, or the texture from touching leaves, for mapping the target domain seems unnecessary. In addition, recalling scenarios requires no specific perception in the source domain for mapping. Consider jogging in the forest, in

which the overall flavor experience is condensed into a scenario of a person jogging in the forest. We cannot be certain which perception of the five senses is specified to be mapped onto the target feeling of flavor. The whole associated action and image in the scenario are activated for the target domain. In other words, all of the components of the scenario work entirely in the foreground to be mapped onto the coffee flavor. Therefore, the mapping is not tied to any perception.

Notwithstanding, these fleeting, one-to-many perception mappings should be regarded as multi-sensory connections rather than non-sensory connections. Namely, although its tendency of different perceptual correspondence is unstable, its capability or indispensability of crossmodality cannot be withdrawn. Consider the example sentence of “the flavor is like walking into Mother Nature, and smelling the freshness of nature,” the recollection of several types of perceptual images naturally becomes that of one image. In other words, the synesthetic simile creates a virtual scenario rooted in bodily experience, driving the audience to “see, hear, touch, or feel” the scenario. Undoubtedly, the crossmodal nature of synesthetic similes evokes in the audience a multi-sensory experience rather than a nonperceptual one.

Since it is not an easy task to separate the distinctive perceptions within synesthetic similes, to see the expression as a unified impression stimulating multiple senses seems to be natural and comprehensible. Lastly, we propose that there should be two pathways of viewing the synesthetic similes as a unified percept, namely, synchronically or simultaneously occurring feelings and adjacently occurring feelings in flavor tasting.

The pathway of simultaneously occurring feelings consists of the mixture of the smell, taste, and mouthfeel as a unique percept. Why are these perceptions qualified to be in a unified percept rather than others? The reason lies in their synchronic appearance in flavor

tasting. As introduced in the previous chapter, the perception of flavor usually stands for the combination of taste and smell, as they are stimulated nearly at the same time during consumption. In the present study, we consider the primary definition of flavor as having feelings of smell and taste at the same time during tasting. As evident in “the burned and bitter taste of tea-goose,” the linguistic presentation of flavor is often shown as a combination of taste and smell. This mixture of expressing the sensation of a burned smell and a bitter taste in language is probably due to the limited number of taste subtypes.

Admittedly, the Chinese term for the sensation of tasting denotes the combination of smell and taste: wei dao (味道). This term is a vague term for respectively indicating smell and taste, yet it is utilized commonly in Taiwan. In terms of etymology, the linguistic expression of wei dao (味道) means the sensation felt by the tongue in tasting and the sensation activated by the nose in smelling as well.

Compared with the synchronic pathway, the pathway of adjacently occurring feelings mainly concerns the preceding or consequent feelings of a direct tasting. Since emotion, previous expectations, cultural experience, perhaps related to comparisons with previous coffee tastings, and mostly imagination are included as factors, this pathway is believed to be more emotional. As we see in example (6.8), the pungency feeling facilitates the imagination of a Brazilian lady dancing on the taster’s tongue. This percept of adjacent feelings, therefore, is a combination of dominant crossmodal sensations.