Alright friends, I’ve got a weird one.

My dearest friend (and ex-wife, mother of my son. Long story) has a condition that has caused her stomach to no longer function. There’s a lot of details, a lot of which I’m not intimately familiar with, but the short story is she cannot eat nor drink most things by mouth. She can sometimes drink tea, occasional other drinks. Fats are bad. She has a feeding tube that supplies her with a nutrient solution.

But she doesn’t get to eat. She doesn’t get to enjoy food. She was telling me today she got a broth or something that has no fat and it was so tasty and it was basically the first actual food flavor she’s had since November. She’s overjoyed with being able to enjoy it. We’re still waiting to see if she can keep it down.

But my idea was (and I’ve discussed it with her and she’s shown interest - I’m not just going off on a tear) to find like flavor isolates or concentrates? If they’re concentrates, they’d need to be diluted. But then she could like dip a toothpick in them or something like you do when you’re sampling a hot sauce.

But they need to be good. I don’t want to give her a vial with the shadow of the idea of the taste of a food. I want it to be convincing, so she can really enjoy it. She’s being deprived of one of the basic pleasures in life, and I really want to remedy that situation.

So, internet friends, with all of your varied and wild interests and expertise, how may I help my friend?

  • isame [he/him]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
    4·
    1 month ago

    Lol the worst part of making posts online is the anxiety I feel because I think I have to respond to everyone and I get overwhelmed. Fortunately I think we all understand that better than most. That’s why it’s so damn good to be a bear.

    Thanks for all the responses so far! This will definitely be something we’d explore together and with caution. She has a pretty good idea of the flavors that trigger her and not. Sometimes it’s just a gamble though and even water is hostile.

    So far I think my direction of research will be towards infusing flavorless chewing gum with terpenes. She told me yesterday that she wishes the Wonka chewing gum that’s like a full meal sounds amazing to her.

    I’m obviously under no illusions that I’m just going to be able to get this right. I’m no food scientist, or a scientist at all. Hell, I barely even cook. But I think this could be something really fun for us to explore together, and hopefully bring a little bit of joy to her life. Even if it’s just playing around with the flavors.