# Parallels between Music and Food



## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

I often think of dissonance in terms of spice or spicyness, with music that is more dissonant or (less tonal) as simply being spicier. Kind-of like really hot Indian food that is saturated with spice (cardamom, coriander, etc).

Anyway, I was just sitting here thinking (at work) and wondering if there may be other parallels between food and cooking and music. What do you think?


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## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

I also think dissonance as "spicyness". Both are quite "objective" qualities in a "comparative" sense, people can usually agree which of the two kinds of food is more spicy, but not about what really counts as "spicy" or "too spicy", same for dissonance of chords and intervals. People haven't simply been conditioned to think something as spicy and dissonant, and the fact that people generally prefer not very spicy food isn't simply the fact that they are more "familiar" with it. This doesn't make spicy food "inferior", it just hasn't as universal appeal. Children generally prefer their food sweet and not very spicy, their music consonant and not dissonant, again due to nature and not nurture, but doesn't mean there aren't any exceptions.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

Dim7 said:


> ...spicy food... it just hasn't as universal appeal.


It doesn't? India has about 20% of the world's population and they are known for spicy cooking. The appeal of their spices was so great, in fact, that Europeans 'discovered' all of the continents in their desire to have them. Latin American cooking is known for spiciness. So it Spanish cooking, Asian cooking, etc. Middle Eastern cooking, too, can be quite spicy, as can much of Mediterranean cooking. Our European cooking, too, when properly prepared, contains many herbs and spices, such as the green herbs that can be not just aromatic, but also slightly bitter, mustard, black pepper, cloves and, since the 1500s, just about anything the world has to offer.


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## Celloman (Sep 30, 2006)

The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra, folks! Please don't throw tomatoes.


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## Posie (Aug 18, 2013)

I can see what you mean with the analogy. Indian and Mexican are my two favorite types of cuisine, but when the heat factor is so high that it covers or takes away all of the other flavors, it's not a pleasant experience.


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

Some interesting parallels can be found. I like Indian food best, a rich curry that is very HOT and very SWEET and very SOUR and very BITTER and very SALTY and very MEATY (without actual meat, thank you very much). All the flavours geared up to 11. With music, I prefer the likes of Mahler's 8th symphony, Schoenberg's Gurrelieder, Wagner's Ring... so there's a definite connection. I'm a gluttonous maximalist with a heart on fire.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Yeah. Indian food is usually too spicy and my stomach pays the price a few hours later. Even asking for "mild" at some Indian restaurants translates to "second degree burn".


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## Posie (Aug 18, 2013)

:lol: A few years ago, one of my friends told another (not me) a fib that once Indians reach a certain age, they will never taste food again because their taste buds have completely worn down. She believed it.


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