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Food

Would You Rather Lose Your Sense of Taste or Ability to Orgasm?

"People who say they like food more than sex need to orgasm a bit more."
would you rather?
All photos by the authors

Pleasures. Life doesn't have enough of the them. The full gamut of Earthly joy is basically just eating, banging, and gossiping about other people who may or may not be banging—and that's it. That's the whole kit and kaboodle. But now imagine you had to dial back the pleasurability of one of those things. Imagine that via some medical misfortune you lost the ability to either taste or cum and now ask yourself: which would you rather live without?

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We took this "would you rather" to the streets of Melbourne and asked for some opinions.

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Mamen, 24, Messina worker

Would you rather lose your ability to orgasm or to taste?
I think I'd lose taste but fuck, I would lose food pleasure! Oh my god! Yeah, I think I would rather lose taste. I’m eating a lot of gelato now, so my taste is getting used every day, and then the other part, I’m not having a lot of orgasms with other people. By myself—yes—but not with people. But yeah, I think it’d be nice to be having orgasms again. Maybe that’s why I answered the orgasm part.

What’s the food you’re going to miss, maybe even while you’re orgasming?
I think maybe chocolate, yeah definitely chocolate!

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Max, 18, student, and Sam, 20, childcare worker

Hey guys, would you rather lose your ability to taste, or your ability to orgasm?
Sam: Look I’d probably say orgasm because I don’t have much sex.

What about you Max, what’s your verdict at this point?
Max: I don’t know, I reckon I'd lose taste, but I do love my taste. I guess you’d still be able to get like texture from food. I reckon like chocolate and Nutella and stuff would be good still. I don’t know I think it’d still be alright.

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Esther, 18, Student

Would you rather lose your ability to taste, or your ability to orgasm?
To be honest, I would probably lose my sense of orgasm because food is, well… some of the best days of my life have been spent eating food. If I lose that, my life is over.

Can you paint us a picture of one of your best days eating?
I once went out with a friend and I had this chicken salsa wrap and it was the best food wrap of my life. I just feel like there’s so many different foods in life. And food just connects you to culture and different people. It provides meaning in life.

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Are there any other foods you couldn’t stand to give up?
Ice cream. Cookies and cream. Very basic, but the best.

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Sim, 34, student

What about you Sim?
I’d rather lose my ability to taste. Yeah, once you orgasm you just can’t forget it. Like it’s better than food. And it’s like an endorphin rush. It’s a work out and it’s, just… like, you feel amazing! And food can’t give you that—it just makes you fat. I think sex or orgasming is natural for the human body. So yeah, I'd take orgasms any day!

What food are you going to miss though when you’re not able to taste? What are you going to be thinking about?
Pizza, pasta, all the carbs in the world. Chocolate, ice cream, smoothies, Mediterranean foods like everything. I think I’m just saying all that because I’m pregnant right now but like other than that not much.

Anything else you want to add to the subject?
Yeah, people who say they like food over sex or orgasming need to orgasm a bit more! I don’t know, I just think once you orgasm and it's really good it’s kind of like a drug, you know? It’s kind of like, you get that hit and you’re like always chasing that hit. Food is food. Sometimes you love food but when you orgasm… it's addictive.

Always good?
You forget everything! There’s nothing, I mean its meditation! Know what I mean? I’ve never had a bad orgasm.

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Ben, 23, Student

Would you rather lose your ability to taste, or your ability to orgasm?
Taste.

That was quick. Why so fast to answer?
I dunno. I just don’t think it would matter to me as much.

You’ve had better experiences orgasming than you have eating?
Well I’m already a vegetarian so I’m halfway there I suppose. Yeah, I’d give up taste. I don’t think I’d be missing out on too much.

Is there any food you would miss though?
Oh yeah. Toast. Tea. Does that count? I’d miss tea, coffee – things like that. Fish. I guess I’m not quite a vegetarian, I eat fish.

Interesting foods to miss, most people go down the chocolate route. Where does that come from, those simple pleasures?
It’s just the first things that sprung to mind and what I suppose I’d miss from eating. Christmassy foods. My family is Swedish, so we eat Swedish food at Christmas, the only time of the year I eat Swedish foods. It wouldn’t be Christmas without that I suppose. But I still think taste would have to go.