Degustation facts for kids
Dégustation (say: day-goo-stah-see-ohn) is a special way of tasting food. It's about carefully enjoying small amounts of many different dishes. You focus on how the food tastes, smells, and feels. It's like an art form for your taste buds!
Imagine trying tiny portions of a chef's best dishes all in one meal. This is what dégustation often involves. It usually has many courses, sometimes with different drinks chosen to go perfectly with each dish.
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The Story of Dégustation
The word dégustation comes from the French language. People still use this French word even when speaking English. This special way of eating probably started in French kitchens in the early 1900s. Before that, meals with many courses usually had full-sized dishes for each course. Dégustation changed this by offering smaller, sample-sized portions.
Examples of Dégustation Meals
You can have a dégustation experience with many different kinds of food.
Cheese Tasting
Sampling a selection of cheeses is a common type of dégustation. You might try three or four different kinds of cheese. These often include a soft cheese, a goat's cheese, and a blue cheese. Usually, you taste the cheeses with stronger flavors last.
Multi-Course Menus
A dégustation meal can have many courses. For example, a six-course meal might include two seafood dishes, a red meat dish, and two desserts. Each dish might come with a drink that matches its flavor. A larger menu, like a nine-course dégustation, could add a vegetarian dish or other types of food.
Tapas: A Similar Style
The popular Spanish style of tapas is a bit like dégustation. Tapas are small plates of food that you can share. However, tapas are usually not a set menu chosen by the chef. Instead, you get to pick the small dishes you want to try from a list.
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