In Defence Of Slurping
Some of you become irritated or even disgusted at the sound of somebody slurping soup, noodles, coffee, or anything for which a slurp can be permitted. Some of you might not care, or maybe a few of you actually enjoy the sound. For me its part of a gentle white noise that helps me concentrate, especially while writing in a coffee shop.
My lovely and patient girlfriend gives me a side eye and a smile when I slurp my coffee, but she laughs after noticing that I notice her. We have an agreement that its one thing I am unable and unwilling to change. Slurping makes your food and drinks taste better.
Your coffee or soup has more flavor when you pull in some air at the same time as the liquid. This might be because of the importance of smell in the perception of flavor. When I sip a coffee and bring in air at the same time, I can feel that the inhale also moves a little air through my nose. My most sought after mugs are those with wide mouths. Not necessarily big mouths, but ones that curve out a little, or otherwise encourage air to flow with my beverage through my lips, across my tongue, and down my gullet.
In an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations he was told that when eating soba noodles properly, it is important to take in air and slurp them. There was no explanation given, but for there to be any reason, it would presumably have to do with taste perception. Sometimes while gnawing on too big a bite or simply taking my time to appreciate a remarkable piece of cooking, I sometimes take a small breath of air halfway through chewing that is almost visibly unnoticeable (to not risk chewing with my mouth open). In those moments my perception of the flavor becomes reinvigorated. (You will I hope have moments when you encounter food so remarkably unlike anything you’ve tasted previously that you unwillingly, reactively, close your eyes, relax your muscles with a deep exhale, and slow your chewing to half your normal pace. In those delicious moments you might notice that the intensity of the flavor becomes slightly diminished with the length of your chewing. This is when recommend taking in a slight breath through your mouth.)
It is of course possible that this is all in my own head, but if I thought that were true I wouldn’t be here to convince you otherwise. The olfactory role in perception of taste is my biological defense of what began as a subjective observation, which then became a habit. I am sorry if you dislike the sound of slurps, though I try to keep mine as subtly unobnoxious as a slurp can be. I hope you won’t mind it if you grab a cup of coffee or a bowl of miso soup with me one day, though you can be sure I’ll be unapologetic and press you to try it too.