Something can be intense AND balanced. It is easy to assume that intensity means excessive, extreme or overwhelming. I have been preoccupied with this concept for a few days. When is something TOO MUCH? Can a dish have too much garlic? Doubtful. And Sour Skittles totally kick ass. They have a brief, full throttle experience but it passes. I suppose, a perpetual Sour Skittle would be painful after a period. It might force you to spit it out. But, my inclination is that I would eat another one.
In fairness, a dish can have too much salt or bitter herbs. The Passover plate reminds us that small quantities of these are best but mostly that notion also speaks to the expensiveness of these items. They are so luxurious that they should be savored with moderation. But life without salt is BORING AND BLAND. Ask any hypertensive patient placed on the Low Salt/No Salt diet.
I like life like a shot of Tequila. A fat lick of salt that crunches in your teeth, the liquid fire of Tequila that your feel all the way down your throat and the tart bite of lime. Three intense sensations all rolled into one. Line em up! Gimme another. No cheating! It is a fixed set. You cannot eliminate salt or lime? And anyone to suggest otherwise is a fool and simply cannot handle the fire. Either they got punished by tequila in the past and are too afraid to try it again or they are tequila spectators. Watching someone else eat the worm is not the same thing.
If we were meant to be calm and sedate, bland and easy, God would not have given mammals the autonomic nervous system. We are hard wired to adrenaline rushes. Sweaty palms, rapid heart beats, passion, fear, thrill and terror all use the same nervous conduits. And it makes life rich and vibrant and absolutely intense.
Every Christmas when I was little, I got a box of 64 or 108 Crayola Crayons. A full spectrum of colors. Fifteen shades of green, 13 blues, 9 yellows. It allowed imagination and creativity. It said to my little girl heart…..think big. Be bright. Make it INTENSE.
Intensity is permissible, expected, demanded. Don’t hold back. Use all your crayons. Color outside the lines. Season your life to taste full and complex. Be brave.
If one allows life to be calm and sedate, bland and easy we would sit back and watch other people’s lives, but then we lose that intensity you talk about.
We need to go outside of our confort zone, experience new sensations and try different combinations of the flavors of life.
I have tasted dishes with opposing flavors, spices that you would normally not consider combining and the sensations it brings to the mouth is incredable. That is intense.