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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/48284
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/48284
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

> Is this considered a bad writing habit, or is it all a matter of opinion?

I consider it mediocre writing. I don't think it is possible to write actual taste experiences, at best you can refer to things your readers may remember having done, or compare things they should remember.

I'll agree with Mark Baker, food doesn't run wild, or explode.

When you find primary sensations difficult to describe, what a writer can focus on instead is the effects those sensations have upon the person's thinking and feeling, the memories and emotions evoked. From your examples:

> I unwrapped a candy and put it in my mouth. Green apple. Not my favorite, but it immediately reminded me of Julia, my classmate in fourth grade before she moved.

> She found a bag of food they had brought with them and picked out a pomegranate. Pomegranates were such a project to eat, getting them open and picking out seeds, a few at a time. She liked the taste and she felt less hungry, but she thought it wasn't so much the calories consumed, but that the effort of dismantling it distracted her from being hungry. Maybe she was more bored than hungry. Either way, she conquered the pomegranate, and felt satisfied.

Complex scenes we can describe as composed of many simpler details, and people can imagine them. We typically cannot do the same with flavors and other direct sensations. A steak tastes like a steak, milk chocolate tastes like milk chocolate.

In cases where you can't really describe what somebody is tasting; you may be able to compare it to another taste, but often what you can do instead is describe how it makes them **feel** , what it makes them **think** or **remember**. And I personally stick to the most common taste expressions I think all readers have had (sweet, sour, peppery, etc). Beyond that, I'd rather focus on the mental and emotional life of the character.

Original score: 7