The Perfect Bite

That perfect bite. There's often--but not always--that one perfect bite, and I've never been able to plan it. Some people can plan it, but for me, it's a serendipitous occurrence. The perfect bite comes to me when it wants to, not when I will it or hope for it.

Sometimes the perfect bite happens during a momentous occasion, like Thanksgiving dinner. Then, it's a magical confluence of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy all in ideal ratios on the fork at the same time. (A four-element perfect bite requires small bits of everything and perhaps some leniency in graceful deportment, as it quickly becomes unwieldy.)

Other times, the perfect bite happens when you're eating meh-quality, grocery-store sourdough smeared with peanut butter and jelly. There you are, munching along, really just assuaging mid-afternoon hunger, when suddenly your mouth sits up and says "Oh, hang on here. That WAS pleasant" because it just got that one bite, that lone, solitary bite that was toasted to perfection and imbued with exactly the right amounts of everything. 

One perfect bite happened in a Chinese restaurant when I was trying to politely choke down honey-walnut shrimp. I'm not a fan of Chinese food anyway (pausing to let you throw stones, hurl invective, and advise me that I just haven't had proper Chinese food), and this particular restaurant was no more than adequate. But THAT BITE was flawless--crunchy mixed with saucy, a little sweet, and a little shrimpy. I've subsequently ordered honey-walnut shrimp and been barely able to choke it down. (It's true, I just don't like the stuff.) That bite was a unique, ethereal occurrence, and I shall not see its like again.

I've often wished I could arrange, stack, engineer or somehow force the perfect bite. But experience has taught me I can't. And, upon reflection, I realize I'm more grateful that the perfect bite just finds me at random times and in unpredictable circumstances. It's a gift, pure happenstance, a spontaneous blessing not to be anticipated or seen as anything more than an impromptu reason to be grateful.

I wonder if the perfect bite has some cosmic significance?