Don't Look!
DON'T LOOK AWAY! I know you might want to, given the title, but read on. It will be interesting and perhaps even fun.
Origins of Disgust
Disgust is one of the worst reactions we
can have. Whatever stimulates our disgust reaction, we want none of it! It revolts us, forces us turn away. We want to
vomit. Infants show disgust clearly by tightly closed eyes, scrunched face, pursed lips, and agitated head turns away from the offending food. This kind of physical reaction, persists through life. You may be curious about why.
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drawing by Janet Strayer
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Disgust begins as an involuntary emotional
response, one of several basic emotions we start out with in infancy. Hardwired
into our facial expressions, disgust functions to defend us
from something objectionable while it also alerts others. Charles Darwin thought
it was a universal human reaction to something nauseating, sensed primarily via taste. Disgusted faces look like they want to prevent intake, or
promote expulsion of something bad from mouth and nose. Originating in expulsion
of food that might endanger our survival, Darwin thought disgust was associated
with anything causing a similar reaction via other senses, including vision.
Why Focus on the Disgusting?
Why focus on the disgusting? Why focus on the ugly, as much art historically has done when portraying war, slaughter, human excess, etc.? Not only the beautiful or tasteful merit our attention. Art and human inquiry are curious to explore all aspects of human experience and expression.
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charcoal drawing by Janet Strayer, from Caravaggio's Judith cutting the head of Holofernes
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Disgust Merits a Museum.
The Disgusting Food Museum opened in Malmö,
Sweden in 2018, and has since travelled worldwide. It challenges the concept of 'taste' quite literally by
presenting presumably disgusting foods to eat. Let's explore this a bit --- from a
safe distance.
The foods include freshly served, often smelly items native to different
regions of the world: poop wine, fish-heads,
rancid shark, Spam, stinkbugs, dog meat, kosher fried locusts, and durian (a
delicious custardy fruit I ate in Singapore only after months of habituation and only after it's awful smell was altered), also worms and grasshoppers.
People at the Museum try out more foods
than they expect they will. Some are reported to taste surprisingly good, if one can get past a
pre-formed idea of them. On the other
hand, the museum has
also been rebuked as culturally insensitive, even racist. I've
not been to this museum so can't speak first-hand to its emphasis or impact. Thinking
about it, though, considerations of beauty (or ugliness) across time and
cultures are appropriate in art and cultural anthropology, so why not the same for
disgust?
Cultural Differences and Biases
I recall years ago being the guest of a friend invited to a very traditional Bedouin wedding. It took place in a beautiful dessert location in the Middle East. I was offered a delicacy in a bowl. My translator friend told me it was a soup containing ungulates' eyeballs. It looked like mucus to me. Minding my manners, I ate some of it. Almost immediately, my gag reflex forced me to exit the scene, accompanied by laughter from my former friend.
How much of the disgust reaction resides in the eye (or idea) of the beholder rather than in the actual stimulus? Was it the soup, itself, or my associations that prompted my reaction?
Different cultures and socio-cultural groups have their own taste
delicacies and taboos. Foie gras, for example, may ignite your tastebuds or your outrage. Education and necessity can also change what you consider disgusting. We aren't fussy eaters when
starving. Necessity quite dramatically trumps appetite and taste preferences. Any travelling we do outside our comfort zone also challenges
our taste preferences. The curiosity that accompanies travel offers opportunities for such changes, and the required
bits of assimilation to foreign cultures helps us to learn quickly. We acquire new tastes, expand our preferences
and opinions.
Going Outside Our Comfort Zone
What we learn from this foray into
Disgust applies to art and creative living. We know how hard it is to move outside our comfort zone, and not everyone is equally curious to do so. If we find ourselves in "other" territory (other than familiar), our reactions can be weaponized for
either malice or political correctness. Both these goals seem to limit experience and growth. They needn't. If we can remain open to new ideas and experiences, taking various perspectives into account, we can greatly expand our possibilities, choices, and even pleasures. They can move in the direction of exploration and greater range and dimension to of our views... and the diversity of our tastes. I'm for that!
More Creative Life News
You can read and see more about creative life, travels, tips and creative adventures by this itinerant artist at Creative Life News at
https://www.janetstrayer.com
Regards, Janet
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