# How long does it take you to recognize that a dish or food item is really, really good?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-you-to-recognize-that-a-dish-or-food-item-is-really-really-good/855602
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [June 13, 2020, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-you-to-recognize-that-a-dish-or-food-item-is-really-really-good/855602 "2020-06-13T14:01:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2020, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-you-to-recognize-that-a-dish-or-food-item-is-really-really-good/855602/1 "2020-06-13T14:01:00Z")
I’ve noticed in a few tv ads involving food that they will often have an actor taking a first bite, and then almost immediately making that food orgasm face. There must be actors that specialize in this, as I saw the same guy making the same face in 2 different local restaurant commercials.
Anyway, while I think I can immediately recognize the potential that an item could be a top 1% dish, it takes me at least a few bites to truly judge it. Oftentimes, any small negative thing takes some time to emerge. Meanwhile, if the item isn’t good and has no potential, i recognize it immediately.
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### Author:  [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2020, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-you-to-recognize-that-a-dish-or-food-item-is-really-really-good/855602/2 "2020-06-13T17:29:34Z")
I don’t know. Of every dish I love ( as in price or convenience is no object ) it was love at first bite, chew, swallow. Seriously.
There are other dishes I’ve come to appreciate, but the change happened over a much longer time, chiefly from childhood to adulthood. I also have to make allowances for the fact that maybe a certain dish which I disliked, was in fact due to indifferent ( sorry Mom, 'Gram ) preparation and once having the ability to try it as it’s supposed to be, yes, I liked it.
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### Author:  [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2020, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-you-to-recognize-that-a-dish-or-food-item-is-really-really-good/855602/3 "2020-06-13T17:40:51Z")
I’m in the food orgasm at first bite camp. Maybe the first bite tells me something great is going on and the second bite confirms it.
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### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2020, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-you-to-recognize-that-a-dish-or-food-item-is-really-really-good/855602/4 "2020-06-13T22:31:13Z")
The same amount of time that it takes for me to recognize that something is terrible, or somewhere in between: one bite, or sip for that matter.
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### Author:  [@Happytree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happytree)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2020, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-you-to-recognize-that-a-dish-or-food-item-is-really-really-good/855602/5 "2020-06-13T22:46:04Z")
I think you have to finish the meal before you can deem it GREAT. The first bite of a bowl full of melted butter would be amazing, but if it was you’re whole meal, you would be sick by the end.
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### Author:  [@Happytree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happytree)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2020, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-you-to-recognize-that-a-dish-or-food-item-is-really-really-good/855602/6 "2020-06-13T22:47:44Z")
I think you have to finish the meal before you can deem it GREAT. The first bite of a bowl full of melted butter would be amazing, but if it was you’re whole meal, you would be sick by the end.
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### Author:  [@Didi44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didi44)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2020, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-you-to-recognize-that-a-dish-or-food-item-is-really-really-good/855602/7 "2020-06-14T02:39:02Z")
I’m a two bite+ guy. Which is why I don’t understand the one bite dish in a spoon.
One bite leaves me wanting or not wanting more. I can be convinced and satisfied with two bites, but not one.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2020, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-you-to-recognize-that-a-dish-or-food-item-is-really-really-good/855602/8 "2020-06-14T02:56:52Z")
I usually know from the first bite if I will love a dish. (Or hate it.)
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2020, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-you-to-recognize-that-a-dish-or-food-item-is-really-really-good/855602/9 "2020-06-14T03:13:20Z")
duplicate
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### Author:  [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2020, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-you-to-recognize-that-a-dish-or-food-item-is-really-really-good/855602/10 "2020-06-14T18:37:53Z")
Usually one bite for me, but this thread does remind me of the first time I ate at Fenton’s Jamaican Jerk restaurant in Southfield, MI. I was obsessively eating every last grain of rice and thought wow, I was really hungry. It wasn’t until the second time I ate there I realized it’s not that I’m excessively hungry, the jerk chicken, rice and beans was really just one of the best things I ever ate. Sadly Fenton died last February, and the place is no more.
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2020, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-you-to-recognize-that-a-dish-or-food-item-is-really-really-good/855602/11 "2020-06-14T18:42:03Z")
I’m a one-bite man, baby.
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### Author:  [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2020, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-you-to-recognize-that-a-dish-or-food-item-is-really-really-good/855602/12 "2020-06-14T23:05:49Z")
I was in New Orleans in early March. I’d come across char broiled oysters in my research. My companions and I went to a place well know for these (Felix’s) and one bite was all it took. I knew I was going to like them but I didn’t know I was going to be wiping garlic butter sauce off the plate with my fingers.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2020, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-you-to-recognize-that-a-dish-or-food-item-is-really-really-good/855602/13 "2020-06-14T23:47:09Z")
One bite, if not one sniff.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-you-to-recognize-that-a-dish-or-food-item-is-really-really-good/855602/14 "2020-06-15T02:02:47Z")
Yeah, typically the first bite. Sometimes, I’m priming myself to enjoy something, and sometimes it takes me by complete surprise. One of my strongest food memories is eating a baguette and butter for breakfast at a cheap hotel in Paris. I was just there for a night – made a spontaneous stop there to check out the city the day before, and was kind of in a cranky mood in the morning and not looking forward to a continental breakfast. I wanted hot breakfast, dammit! What I thought I would have done for a plate of bacon and eggs. I cut open my baguette, half-heartedly spread some butter on it, took and bite and, holy shit. It’s like the angels appeared before me. For a moment, I considered that man could live on bread (and butter) alone. I never thought bread and butter could taste so good, and this was at a cheap, $30/night hotel in 1996.
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-you-to-recognize-that-a-dish-or-food-item-is-really-really-good/855602/15 "2020-06-15T02:28:03Z")
If you need more than one bite to decide how good something is what do you do upon eating an amuse bouche or a petit four?
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### Author:  [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-you-to-recognize-that-a-dish-or-food-item-is-really-really-good/855602/16 "2020-06-15T03:43:06Z")
I’m in the one bite boat.