"Taste"

Information

First published:
- December 1951 issue of The New Yorker

Related books:
Magazine publications:
Theater:
- A Question of Taste (opera), 1990, Glimmerglass Opera, Cooperstown, USA
Audio Books:
- “De Fijnproever & Lam Ter Slachtbank” read by Hans Keller
- “Der Weg Zum Himmel – 3 Kriminalhörspiele” read by full cast
- “Taste” read by Richard E. Grant
- Leib & Seele: Eine kulinarische Reise durch die Weltliteratur
- Someone Like You read by Julian Rhind-Tutt, Stephen Mangan, Tamsin Greig, Derek Jacobi, Richard Griffiths, Willl Self, Jessica Hynes, Juliet Stevenson, Adrian Scarborough, Richard E. Grant
- Tales of the Unexpected read by Geoffrey Palmer, Joanna David, Tom Hollander, Patricia Routledge, and Joanna Lumley
- The Vicar of Nibbleswicke & Other Stories read by Stephen Fry
TV Shows:
- Lux Video Theatre (1952)
- Star Tonight (1955)
- Tales of the Unexpected (1979)
- The Philip Morris Playhouse (1954)
- Thirty-Minute Theatre (1965)

Plot Description

Spoiler warning! The setting for this story is a dinner party at the home of stock broker Mike Schofield. The guests include Schofield and his wife and daughter, the narrator and his wife, and a man called Richard Pratt. Pratt is a famous gourmet and enjoys showing off his knowledge of fine wine and food. He is also a thoroughly unpleasant man. Both times prior that Pratt dined with Schofield, the two men made a curious bet: Schofield bet that Pratt could not identify some special wine that he had procured for the night. Pratt had always won. On the night this story takes place, Schofield thinks that he will finally win one over on the gourmet. He has a very rare bottle of claret from a tiny chateau in France, and he boasts that Pratt will never be able to guess it. Pratt, who had been spending the night engrossed in conversation with Schofield’s daughter Louise, takes the bet and asks to up the stakes. He offers to bet two of his houses against the hand of Louise in marriage. Both Louise and her mother are against it, but Schofield manages to convince them to accept. He believes that Pratt has no chance of winning. Pratt then proceeds to smell and taste the wine, and he slowly begins to narrow down its possible origin. Eventually he gets the correct answer and Schofield sits there horrified. Just as Pratt is starting to get nasty about the bet, the house maid appears at his arm and offers him his spectacles, which he had misplaced earlier. He takes no notice of her, but she stands her ground and reminds him (rather loudly) that he left them in Mr. Schofield’s study on top of the filing cabinet when he went in there that evening… which is just where Pratt, on a previous visit, had advised Schofield to leave his wines to “breathe”. In other words, he cheated!

Reviews

“The Art of Vengeance” by Joyce Carol Oates (The New York Review of Books)
“Getting Even” by Stephen Amidon (The Nation)

Criticism and Analysis

“Looking into the patriarchal world of Roald Dahl’s short story” Taste” through and beyond its narrator”
- Paper by Luis de Juan published in The Grove

Fun Stuff

“In Good Taste: Branaire-Ducru 1928-2013” – article about the vineyard that features in the story

Teacher Ideas

“Taste” – Classroom Activities
- Includes a number of questions and exercises pertaining to the story
“Taste” – Classroom Ideas
- Includes some ideas for teaching grammar