[hodwik]

Palette would be the word usually used in this case. As in, an artist's palette.

Palate would be wordplay or typo as parent suggested.

[coldtea]

>>Native speaker here - it's just the word we use for people's tastes.

>Palette would be the word usually used in this case. As in, an artist's palette.

No, it wouldn't.

From the Google built-in dictionary, palate (with 1 "t"):

"2. a person's ability to distinguish between and appreciate different flavours."

And from Webster: 2. the sense of taste

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/palate

Also: https://www.vocabulary.com/articles/chooseyourwords/palate-p...

[hodwik]

From Merriam Webster:

"(2) : a comparable range, quality, or use of available elements <a rich palette of tones and timbres> <a palette of flavors>"

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/palette

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A "palate" means a gourmand's ability to distinguish complex flavors.

A "palette", when used in culinary writing, is a common analogy between a chef's selection of spices and an artist's choice of color.

In this case they are talking about the available selection of spices used in Sichuanese cooking. Not the Sichuanese people's ability to taste spicy food.

-

Examples:

New York Times - "In a single block you can find a dozen different chilies in a Mexican grocery, an artist's palette of spices in an Indian market, and restaurants, endless restaurants."

Huffington Post - "These can include smoked or unsmoked bacon, juniper berries, mustard, beef stock, brown sugar, white sugar, flour for thickening, bread for thickening, pain d’épices (a sort of gingerbread but with a more colorful palette of spices), thyme, and, very occasionally, garlic."

New York Times - "It takes a starring role in prahok ktis, with ground chicken and the national spice palette of galangal, ginger and lemon grass, served with vegetables to dip ($17.95). "

Business Insider - "Thankfully, wine stoppers exist, and can help you save your Pinot for later without ruining its flavor palette."

Scientific American - "Due to heat processing, the flavor palette now includes a malty, burnt note from 2-methyl-butanal, along with much more pyridine odor and furfural, a sugar decomposition product smelling of grain and sawdust."

Forbes - "That translates well to the Italian-contemporary flavor palette at Culina. The very lengthy new menu ranges from delicate crudo and vegetarian ..."

[coldtea]

>In this case they are talking about the available selection of spices used in Sichuanese cooking. Not the Sichuanese people's ability to taste spicy food.

I read it as being about adding this particular flavor to their accepted tastes, i.e. embracing the new taste -- not about merely adding the spice to the variety/assortment of spices they use (which was a given as the parent was already talking about that).

[rincewind]

Conclusion: even native speakers can't tell if typo, pun or dead metaphor. I wish I could turn back time, make an edit to the article, ask again, compare results.

[twelvechairs]

Coldtea and elthran are right imo. The phrase reads simply to me. No typo pun or metaphor. If 'palette' was used id read it as misspelling.

[hodwik]

> "If 'palette' was used id read it as misspelling."

Thank goodness we finally have an authority on the subject to tell us what to believe.