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Daynine, I'm glad! Sometimes when I'm feeling wicked I add backfat to the meatballs, but usually the tofu is delightful on its own.

Dear Favorite Professor,

Though I have never had the pleasure of trying it, your description of taho makes me wonder if there really wasn’t any taste of soy in this dessert. When we were standing in the kitchen tasting the firm tofu from the package, you claimed that it was bland. But to my palate, the most noticeable quality about the tofu was its taste of soy. So are you sure? Because your description of taho reminds me of the Cantonese dim sum staple, in which freshly made silken tofu is drizzled with a very sweet ginger syrup. In the Cantonese version, the taste of soy is retained in the tofu, and the texture is very custardy as well.

Can any seriouseaters shed light on this dispute? Taho: soy-tasting or not?

Anyway, try this argument on for size:

My premise is that within the gamut of flavors, textures, and so forth, there can be minor disputes and variations, but the fundamental question of whether or not something tastes good can be answered objectively. To understand why certain tastes and preferences are “good,” we can examine the influences of culture, locale, and physiology. The former two are certainly varied but the physiological standard is not. Putrid, for example, can never be “good” because we’re biologically designed to prefer that which is safe, but “fatty” is generally a good thing because we all possess taste buds that respond specifically to the taste of fat.

With regards to the locale factor, it’s certainly true that different regions of the world yield a variety of indigenous foods, but I think that the ways in which cultures have responded are more similar than not. So many cuisines have their own version of a meaty filling encased in dough, or a fisherman’s stew, for instance. While an Asian dumpling is different from a pierogi, both emphasize a well-kneaded dough that is slightly chewy, encasing a soft filling. Likewise, bouillabaisse may differ from a clam chowder or any other type of seafood soup, but all cooks are careful not to overcook seafood, which is always “bad.”

Similarly, our gauge of whether or not a steak tastes “good,” can be broken down to a few key factors:

1. beefiness
2. tenderness
3. a developed or somewhat browned crust

These criteria derive from the way in which we respond, again, to the presence of fat, as well as our penchant for items that have been browned (Maillard reaction) or somehow seared. Different cuisines may add different spices or apply different cooking techniques, but a steak is a steak, no?

You ask if it’s at all meaningful for a judgment to be an “aggregation of personal taste.” I think that an aggregation is the best we have. If we can all recognize tastes (sweet, salty, umami) and textures that we like (crispy, tender, chewy, and so forth) in certain contexts, then we are already doing much to standardize the matter of taste. I’m not sure whether we can ever “prove” that good taste is true in the same way that we can talk about the sciences as being objective, but I don’t think that this alone should deter us from explaining our culinary judgments in reasonable terms.

Anyway, you’ve probably predicted much of my response already. It’s a working theory, of course, but I’m not ready to give up on it!

@renzata - I'd like to try a krabby patty too...

...I'd DIE to try Ratatoullie's ...ratatoullie (it looks good!)

Scrumdidiliumptious bars. My sister and I have had discussions about the ingredients that would make up a scrumdidili... bar. We think it's gooey, crunchy, and chocolaty. My mom shared an idea, but we both knew that she simply just didn't get it. We have talked about what real chocolate bar comes closest. For not "getting" it, our mom once made something that came closer than any store-bought candy.

Speaking of the brilliance of Roald Dahl and food, at least from Willy Wonka (the original movie), the big bouncy balls that break open for chocolate. I've always wanted to bite into one of the teacups, but I imagine butterscotch and that doesn't appeal to me so much.

Also - Mystic Pizza, from the movie. Though I'm not sure it wasn't based on a real place. A small mom & pop pizza place in Connecticut that can win over a snooty critic with its mysterious ingredients... Yum!

You know for all the snozzcumber and Frobscottle fans, Roald Dahl published a book of recipes for all the different foods mentioned in his books. My favorite was the chocolate cake that the Trunchbull force fed Bruce Bogtrotter in Matilda. Once or twice a year (usually thanksgiving) we'll make the Matilda cake. But it's really rich.

I wonder if JK Rowling would ever make a Harry Potter cook book.

Oh, and Brontosaurus ribs from the Flintstones....Mmmmmm

@dead_brontes - Turkish delight was mentioned in the comments of the original HoustonPress article!
Turkish delight never lived up to my expectations. Maybe I've never had any 'good' ones? Ehhh...

really? I can't believe nobody's mentioned turkish delight from the lion, the witch and the wardrobe. none of that processed turkish delight that you get for $5 at Christmas, but the kind that was so good it made edward turn evil! Also, the green soup from Are you Afraid of the Dark--it was so delicious that people got addicted (it was made of the souls of people).

where was I? Oh yes--Jeeves' hangover cure usually shows up at least once in any of P.G. Wodehouse's Bertie and Jeeves novels.

Honey onion pie, from Robert McCloskey's "Centerburg Tales". The honey onion was developed by the uncle of one of the characters. It looked like a regular onion, but was as sweet as honey.

For everyone pining for Bertie Bott's every flavour beans, the Jelly Belly company made an officially licensed version from 2005-2007. Sorry you missed it.

I still laugh at the thought of my nephew running for the the garbage can to spit out the Rotten Egg flavoured bean I gave him, and the impish look in his eye as he tried to convince my dad to try one not 30 seconds later.

from Alec Baldwin's SNL skit.. his famous Schweddy Balls.

And the gingerbread house from Hansel & Gretel. Minus the occupant.

Damn, Roald Dahl has certainly cast a long shadow over today's foodies.

Anyway, here's a few:

1) The sushi from the Marianas Trench that the Michael Eisner-like mogul serves in Christopher Buckley's Thank You For Smoking.

2) Apparently not mythical (people have published cookbooks of them), but certainly used for a touch of the exotic: all those old English dishes in the Patrick O'Brian books, like Boiled Baby and Spotted Dick. I've had a touch of the marthambles lately and that would fix it right up.

3) Ugly chicken for Thanksgiving. (See: Waldrop, Howard.)