![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Pizza vs Cheesecake
Jun. 9th, 2003 07:46 amTalking with Syprina over hot saucy meat at Blue Ribbon Barbecue, wondering what is better: the first bite of a pizza or the first bite of cheesecake. Pizza, definitely. Sharing a slice of cheesecake, I might offer that first bit of the wedge to a trusted companion. But if I'm holding a hot gooey slice of Canadian Bacon & Pineapple, the only way you're going to get that perfect and luscious first bite is if you pry it out of my cold dead hands so don't even think about it, punk.
Surely, the low wedge is the most appealing food delivery shape, because the pointy end will always be sized just right for insertion into the mouth. The cylinder also offers a mouth-friendly design (corn dog, churro, eclair) but there's a subtle and implicit danger of gagging and choking there, if for example you're walking along the street eating a cannoli and someone runs into you at high speed. With the Wedge geometry, the danger is less because the increasing width as you progress along the axis will naturally prevent too much material entering the mouth. It's this extra security that adds just that much more enjoyment to the pizza consumption experience.
So why do I not guard my cheesecake as dearly as the pizza slice? As Syprina so cannily pointed out to me, it's because you eat cheesecake with a fork, silly. That layer of detachment makes all the difference; when you're not so connected physically and tactile-y with your food, it's easier to give it away. Besides, food on fork obviously negates the Wedge geometry; separated from it's the parent the cheesecake bite is no longer the wedge tip, its become a triangley tent-shape. I suspect that a slice of cheesecake eaten with the hands would evoke the same jealous first-bite husbandry as the pizza. I may need to investigate further by consuming copious amounts of cheesecake, sans fork. In the interests of science.
Surely, the low wedge is the most appealing food delivery shape, because the pointy end will always be sized just right for insertion into the mouth. The cylinder also offers a mouth-friendly design (corn dog, churro, eclair) but there's a subtle and implicit danger of gagging and choking there, if for example you're walking along the street eating a cannoli and someone runs into you at high speed. With the Wedge geometry, the danger is less because the increasing width as you progress along the axis will naturally prevent too much material entering the mouth. It's this extra security that adds just that much more enjoyment to the pizza consumption experience.
So why do I not guard my cheesecake as dearly as the pizza slice? As Syprina so cannily pointed out to me, it's because you eat cheesecake with a fork, silly. That layer of detachment makes all the difference; when you're not so connected physically and tactile-y with your food, it's easier to give it away. Besides, food on fork obviously negates the Wedge geometry; separated from it's the parent the cheesecake bite is no longer the wedge tip, its become a triangley tent-shape. I suspect that a slice of cheesecake eaten with the hands would evoke the same jealous first-bite husbandry as the pizza. I may need to investigate further by consuming copious amounts of cheesecake, sans fork. In the interests of science.
