“ In the highly mechanised countries, thanks to tinned food, cold storage, synthetic flavouring matters, etc., the palate is almost a dead organ. ”
George Orwell, The Road to Wigan Pier (1937). copy citation
| Author | George Orwell |
|---|---|
| Source | The Road to Wigan Pier |
| Topic | food taste mechanization |
| Date | 1937 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200391.txt |
Context
“To begin with, there is the frightful debauchery of taste that has already been effected by a century of mechanisation. This is almost too obvious and too generally admitted to need pointing out. But as a single instance, take taste in its narrowest sense — the taste for decent food. In the highly mechanised countries, thanks to tinned food, cold storage, synthetic flavouring matters, etc., the palate is almost a dead organ. As you can see by looking at any greengrocer's shop, what the majority of English people mean by an apple is a lump of highly-coloured cotton wool from America or Australia; they will devour these things, apparently wim pleasure, and let the English apples rot under the trees.”
source
Meaning and analysis
