Setting Tastes: #Preptober, Day 19

We’ve covered all the “S” senses (sight, sound, smell), so now it’s on to the Ts. Today’s sense to ponder is taste.

Thinking about your setting, there might be quite a lot to taste, or very little, depending on where your character is and what they’re doing there. If your character is in a café or restaurant, taste is paramount! What do they want to eat, and what makes them crave those particular tastes? Are they able to get what they want from their meal, or does the food disappoint? (And, for that matter, are they the type of person to bawl out the chef, or to slink home and write a nasty Yelp review about it later?)

If your character is a chef or baker, taste may also be of huge importance in your story. They are likely tasting and testing food as they go along, and therefore will need to have a lot of sensory input here.

On the other hand, if your character is not at a place where eating and drinking are encouraged, there may still be some interesting uses for their sense of taste.

Think about this: what might a character be tasting against their will? Perhaps they’ve recently been in a fight, and they’ve got the metallic taste of blood in their mouth. Worse, perhaps they’ve had their faces pushed into a pile of dirt or dog poop by a particularly nasty enemy!

What else could a character be tasting that is foul and unpleasant? What might be their reason for tasting these unusual items? Did the baker accidentally confuse the salt and sugar bowls? Has somebody swapped out their baking powder for cocaine? What other reasons could they be tasting something unusual, unpleasant, or unexpected?

Give your tastebuds something to savor – or shrink from – and think more about the sense of taste!

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See you tomorrow with a new prompt!