The Price of Magic: Part I

Recently, I experienced a very interesting, taste-bud altering ordeal. Momo and I went out to Applebee's with a couple of friends (Max and Emma). We enjoyed a variety of appetizers, sharing boneless buffalo wings, mozzarella sticks, and mini cheeseburgers (sliders, I believe they're called).

It wasn't very busy, because it was about 10:30 in the evening. Most people had already eaten and gone to bed. However, we were hungry after a small, disappointing dinner in the cafeteria. Max also wanted to take us to eat, because it was one of his last nights in the states. Toward the end of the meal, Max pulled out a box that was mostly red and green with some Chinese characters. On the other side of the box were instructions in English. What was it a box of?

Miracle fruit. These little dark red tablets make bitter and sour foods taste sweet. We had all ordered water with lemon and had saved the lemons to test the tablets of miracle fruit. Max opened the box to a package, which he then opened to find a plastic and foil contraption that separated the tablets. He popped them open before handing one tablet to each of us.

We set them on our tongue to let them dissolve as the directions stated, and we waited. While they dissolved, an occasional sour taste flickered over my tongue, but it also tasted a bit like raisins. The four of sat in the booth, occasionally flashing each other tongues to see where the tablets were in the dissolving process.

My tablet was the first one that dissolved. After I dug my lemon wedge out of my water with a knife, I glanced at the others before taking a bite of it. Instead of the usual wince-inducing level of sour that I expected, it was sweet, sweet enough to make it feel like I was eating lemonade. The others soon tried their lemon wedges with similar results.

It was all worth it for the look that waitress gave us when we asked for more lemons and limes though.