This Thanksgiving was back to the traditional fare. After having tried out alternatives to the usual turkey-centric meals over the last two years, my wife and I were with neighbors last Thursday over servings of turkey, mashed potatoes, string beans, pumpkin pie, and so on. While the spread was salivating, the combinations were rather confusing to the tribal palate of mine. Bland turkey with dashes of sweet raspberry slices set-off by savory broccoli au gratin tripped me at quite a few levels. But then again, this is repeated every year and we were mere encroachers in what has been observed for decades as something worthwhile.
Over table, one attendee was busy swirling his glass of wine. I had already downed mine while he went on with the swirling. Curious, I asked him what all that was about. He went on to give me his spiel about texture, viscosity, color, and yadi yada! Slightly irked by what I thought was a tad snooty talk, I retorted that I just drank mine without any pretensions. Why is wine worth all the conjurations of finesse? It is still controlled-rotting grape juice. Hnahlan wine tastes quite like any generic Moscato but the difference seems to be the damage to one’s wallet either does.
Value has many moderators. Use value, aesthetics, rarity, durability, and other similar parameters determine what is worthwhile. But they are all ideas of what has value; things don’t have value in themselves but we impute their value according to various preferences. Hence value is a social idea.
Value can be rather twisted in the current market economy. In a recent essay, Zones of Seduction, Martin Lindstrom dices what makes people pick up or ignore products on a market aisle. Rather than slaughter his acute perception with a summary, let me just post his final analysis: “The next time you go grocery shopping, take a look at the signs, the type of floor, and even the carts. Everything has been designed with an eye towards getting you to grab those three cans of something that was not on your list. The more attention you pay to the details, the more aware you’ll become of how you’re being manipulated. One thing is for certain; whoever made those three cans will be watching you just as closely.”
Easy to manipulate, value is hard to pin down. Reams of paper have been expended to try and capture what about it fascinates and enslaves us. What I find worthwhile however is to learn why people hold something valuable because by doing so, I am invited into a deeper matrix of social orientations, insecurities, and aspirations. So while I will half-heartedly indulge someone’s spiel on the finer aspects of wine-tasting, I will also uphold the relishing discovery of hnahlan wine in a dry corner of Mizoram, “A va tui e!”
Over table, one attendee was busy swirling his glass of wine. I had already downed mine while he went on with the swirling. Curious, I asked him what all that was about. He went on to give me his spiel about texture, viscosity, color, and yadi yada! Slightly irked by what I thought was a tad snooty talk, I retorted that I just drank mine without any pretensions. Why is wine worth all the conjurations of finesse? It is still controlled-rotting grape juice. Hnahlan wine tastes quite like any generic Moscato but the difference seems to be the damage to one’s wallet either does.
Value has many moderators. Use value, aesthetics, rarity, durability, and other similar parameters determine what is worthwhile. But they are all ideas of what has value; things don’t have value in themselves but we impute their value according to various preferences. Hence value is a social idea.
Value can be rather twisted in the current market economy. In a recent essay, Zones of Seduction, Martin Lindstrom dices what makes people pick up or ignore products on a market aisle. Rather than slaughter his acute perception with a summary, let me just post his final analysis: “The next time you go grocery shopping, take a look at the signs, the type of floor, and even the carts. Everything has been designed with an eye towards getting you to grab those three cans of something that was not on your list. The more attention you pay to the details, the more aware you’ll become of how you’re being manipulated. One thing is for certain; whoever made those three cans will be watching you just as closely.”
Easy to manipulate, value is hard to pin down. Reams of paper have been expended to try and capture what about it fascinates and enslaves us. What I find worthwhile however is to learn why people hold something valuable because by doing so, I am invited into a deeper matrix of social orientations, insecurities, and aspirations. So while I will half-heartedly indulge someone’s spiel on the finer aspects of wine-tasting, I will also uphold the relishing discovery of hnahlan wine in a dry corner of Mizoram, “A va tui e!”
2 comments:
"..one attendee was busy swirling his glass of wine.." This reminded me of Ted' ex, Karen, from How I met your mother.
I don't drink wine much, but I do love White wines. Frankly I can't taste the difference between brands, but I guess the presentation has a factor, a pretty bottle seems to taste better. :P
And slow down on the Hnahlan wine, it's good, but pretty high on acidic content too.
Blackestred: Im more socially inclined with my libations so don't have too many preferences either. Actually, our $2-a-piece, or "two buck chuck", is quite good when imbibed in a group. Its quite another story when chugging it on your own. That's as articulate I can get about the finer points of wine! Thanks for the headsup on the Hnahlan wine. I had a few sips and that was all i had to stack it against a moscato.
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