If you have ever eaten Middle Eastern or Mediterranean food, then you may have tasted sumac. Maybe it was dusted on top of your hummus, baba ghanoush, lebneh or used to flavor your barg or koobideh. If you have never tried these foods, you are most likely wondering what is being written here. This is more than a discussion about the sumac spice. Let’s explore this a little more. Your palate will thank you. 

There are many people living in a diverse regional area who consume foods and who know tastes that may be completely unknown. It all begins with the mouth. 

The mouth is a muscle. As a muscle, it needs exercise to build and tone. Think of language. For instance, Mandarin is a tonal language using pitch or tone when speaking a word. Sound is produced and amplified differently in the mouth than a non-tonal language like English or Spanish. Slavic languages likewise use vocal areas unique from other languages. When a Chinese person tries to speak Spanish for the first time, the muscles of the mouth are not trained to make the latin sounds of Spanish and vice versa for the Spaniard trying Mandarin for the first time. With practice and training, languages can be learned as the vocal instruments of the mouth form new sounds. 

The mouth is also a sponge. Absorbing flavors and textures is it’s purpose. Flavors can be neutral, sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami(savory if you don’t speak Japanese). In addition to flavors, textures like tender, firm, soft, crispy or crunchy, moist, creamy and sticky are recorded in real time with every sip and mastication. If you feel your tongue becoming aroused, don’t be alarmed.

Some people are comfortable with dating someone that they know and/or are familiar with. Sally and and Bill were high school sweethearts. They either got married or ended up finding the same qualities in Michelle and Andrew. That’s great because they’re both happy and the risks weren’t very great. However, there are others who want to try different relationships. Mikhail went searching for something new and found Basia. Mei left home and married Hassan. Trying new foods is like that. 

I hope the analogies that I am making still have your attention because if you are adventurous in your culinary exploits, you will realize how true I am being. Dipping a warm fresh piece of pita into a delectable bowl of creamy hummus will be heightened by the instinctive knowledge that your mouth as muscle and sponge are having a moment. And that moment is ever changing as you taste the chickpeas, olive oil, lemon, garlic, paprika, salt and if you are lucky, that dash of sumac. That, at first, foreign yet alluring flavor bursting from those crushed fuzzy red exotic berries that you had never even heard about and are coursing their way through your pallet. 

After thoroughly gorging on the rest of your Persian meal (it could be Lebanese or Moroccan but stick with me here), you will leave this experience a better person. The memory of the meal will remain with you because you cannot get out of your mind the sumac. That spice with a  distinguishing element like a kiss after passionate conversation. That’s what you’ll remember. 

You have strengthened your vocal muscles. You have absorbed a new consumable organism. You now know that the guy from the office (the one in the cubicle by the water cooler) might be a potential date because, well, you know the guy and he’s worked for the company for years, or….you can accept the flirtations of the new delivery guy with the asymmetrical haircut and three o’ clock shadow(five o’ clock is what you really want to see), and his unrecognizable accent and you barely made out the letters on his name badge(was it Erbil or Urbil)?… Nevertheless, you are now more willing than ever to throw caution to the wind and take him up on his offer. Assuming that he does, of course. My point being that you can date anyone in the same way that you can try new food. 

Sumac is no different than knowing ketchup all your life and tasting soy sauce for the first time. It’s the inspiration to widen your edible horizons. What will be your sumac?