In a small, cozy house lived a cheerful little girl named Emma. And right in the middle of her smiling mouth, upon her tongue, lay the Kingdom of Flavors. It was a place full of life and constant hustle and bustle.
Right at the front, on the tip of the tongue, where strawberries and chocolate most often touched down, the Sweet Princess had her palace. Her domain smelled like a summer meadow, through which flowed brooks of raspberry syrup, and the trees had crowns of cotton candy. Everything here was pink, soft, and pleasant. The Princess smiled all day long, and her messengers, the little Sugar Sprites, were the fastest runners in the entire kingdom.
Along the sides of the tongue, where Emma would touch slices of lemon or sour pickles, lived two brothers. On one side resided the Sour Prince, whose castle was built from sharply cut, green crystals. His messengers, the Lemon Drops, were known for their ability to make everyone squint. On the other side, the Salty Prince had his territory. His kingdom resembled a seashore with dunes of fine salt, and his messengers, the Salt Crystals, always left a tiny salty trail behind them.
And at the very back, in the deepest and most mysterious corner of the tongue, reigned the Bitter King. His castle was dark and majestic, built from stones resembling coffee beans. Around it grew herbs and bitter chicory. The King was usually lost in thought and rarely smiled, as few flavors ever visited his domain. His messengers, the Cocoa Knights, were deliberate and slower, but their messages were always of great importance.
Everyone in the kingdom had a single task. When Emma put something in her mouth, messengers from the correct region would immediately dash up a long, winding path to the Palace of Mind. There, they would deliver a message to the Great Counselor Brain, who would then tell Emma: “Yum, this is a sweet strawberry!” or “Yuck, this herb is bitter!”
One day, Emma sat down at the table, and her mother placed something new on her plate. It was a dark, shiny cube. Emma curiously put it in her mouth and let it slowly melt.
In the Kingdom of Flavors, confusion erupted. The cube had landed precisely on the border between the Sweet Princess's domain and the Bitter King's realm.
“It’s sweet! I clearly taste sugar!” exclaimed the Sweet Princess, and she immediately dispatched her fastest Sugar Sprite, named Flash. Flash took off toward the Palace of Mind, shouting along the way: “Sweet! Sweet! Very sweet!”
But at that very same moment, the Bitter King frowned. “Not at all! I sense a deep, earthy flavor. It is bitter!” And he dispatched his most reliable Cocoa Knight, named Shadow. Shadow moved more slowly, but his steps were sure. He, too, carried a message: “Bitter! Undeniably bitter!”
An unprecedented situation arose in the Palace of Mind. The Great Counselor Brain received two messages at once. One said “sweet,” and the other “bitter.” He scratched his head in confusion. “How can something be sweet and bitter at the same time? This has never happened before.” Emma just sat there with a peculiar expression, unsure whether she liked it or not.
Down in the kingdom, a dispute broke out. The Sugar Sprites and the Cocoa Knights shouted at each other. “We tasted it first! It’s sweet!” squeaked the Sugar Sprites. “We are always right! It’s bitter!” boomed the Cocoa Knights.
The Sweet Princess decided she would not let the matter rest. She took her pink parasol and, for the first time in her life, set off on the long journey to the very back of the tongue, to the realm of the Bitter King. It was an arduous journey for her. She passed by the salty dunes and the sour crystals. Princes Sour and Salty waved to her, wondering where she was going.
When she finally arrived before the dark castle, the Bitter King was already waiting. He raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Princess? What are you doing in my sorrowful land?” “I have come to find the truth,” she said bravely. “My messengers claim the new flavor is sweet. Yours, that it is bitter. They cannot both be right.”
The King sighed. “My messengers are not mistaken. But yours are not known for being slow. What if… what if the thing is composed of more than one part?”
Suddenly, an idea struck them. They returned to the spot where the mysterious cube was still melting. They examined it up close. The Sweet Princess pointed to tiny, glittering specks. “Look! This is sugar! I know this! It is mine!”
The Bitter King nodded and pointed to the dark mass surrounding the specks. “And this is ground cocoa. It is from my realm. It is bitter.”
Suddenly, they understood. The cube was neither just sweet, nor just bitter. It was both! It was called dark chocolate.
“What do we do now?” asked the princess. “We cannot send two different messages to the Palace of Mind. The Great Counselor won’t know what to think.”
For the first time in a long while, the Bitter King smiled. It was only a small smile, but it transformed his whole face. “I have an idea. What if, from now on, we send our messengers together? When a complex flavor like this arrives, your messenger and my messenger will run hand in hand. That way, the Great Counselor will know they belong together.”
The princess loved the idea. “That’s wonderful! Teamwork!” she clapped.
And so it happened. A moment later, Emma took another cube of dark chocolate. At that instant, Flash the Sugar Sprite took the hand of Shadow the Cocoa Knight, and together they raced up the path. When they arrived at the Palace of Mind, the Great Counselor Brain smiled. “Aha! Sweet and bitter together! Now I understand! This is delicious dark chocolate!”
Emma smiled contentedly. “Yum, this one is interesting. It’s sweet, and yet it isn’t. I like it!”
From that day on, everything in the Kingdom of Flavors changed. The rulers understood that some flavors are simple, and others are complex, like a puzzle. When Emma ate apple pie, a Sugar Sprite ran alongside a Lemon Drop, because it was sweet and also a little bit sour. When she had chocolate-covered pretzels, a Salt Crystal held hands with a Sugar Sprite. Even the Bitter King was more cheerful, because his messengers cooperated more often with the others, and he no longer felt so lonely.
And what about you? The next time you eat something, try to concentrate very carefully. Which messenger do you think is running to your Palace of Mind right now? Is it just one, or are more of them running, holding hands? Try it with a piece of fruit or a vegetable. You might be surprised how many different flavors you discover all at once.