Craving What?

8/31/07
For the longest time I’ve been craving a hotdog, something that shouldn’t have been so challenging to obtain but managed to elude me. I believe this has been a long time craving, one that has gone away for months but every once in a while rears its ugly head in a painful desire. When you think about it, hotdogs are not a very appealing food. They consist of ground up meat and intestines wound into a sausage shape roll garnished with spices. So way are they so damn good?
I am curious as to why people crave certain things. Is it all mental or can people actually have cravings to the point where it physically hurts? I know for me, I can crave something so badly that my tummy rumbles and I can taste the explosion of flavors on my tongue, but then the feeling passes. By the time I actually get around to eating whatever it is that I am craving I have normally lost that pure lust. Maybe it is just me, but after I am finished eating whatever it was that I had been craving, I am satisfied. Although, it is more because I have fulfilled my craving and less about how spectacular what I just ate tasted. Even if it was really, really good, my satisfaction comes more from the fulfillment of the craving. Why is that? I would assume it all has to do with taste buds, the little bumps on your tongue that tell the difference between bitter and sweet, and spicy and mild. It is mind-boggeling to me that taste buds play a huge part in who you are simply by controlling what you eat. At the same time, your taste buds can adapt and change based on location and age. For example, when I was little, my mom made this dish of black beans and quinua which I abhorred. For years she stopped making it and evidently lost the recipe. Then, a couple of years ago she made the dish and it has now become one of my main food staples. In fact, I am craving that dish right now, and I will probably be craving that dish for a long time since I will not be home anytime soon.