Personally, as a man, I blame Sex And The City (but then, that is my default stance for most of the world's problems). Either way, there's something in today's sexual waters that has had detrimental effects on the love lives of many of my friends. Bitter twenty-year old women unsure of what they want in life; even more bitter thirty-somethings, petrified that they're missing out on whatever it was they didn't know they wanted.

What I want is some kind of social Miracle Berry...

Following the SATC sexual ethics over from NYC, 'flavo[u]r tripping' is fast becoming the social event du jour - a gustatory experience of Blumenthalian proportions, but at a fraction of the hassle (and cost). Suck on a single West African Miracle Berry and suddenly your tastebuds go loco: the bitter and sour parts knocked unconscious, leaving lemons tasting like sherbert and stout like chocolate milkshake.

Think of it as culinary acid. With a much-tempered comedown and less repercussions (can you imagine how bizarre gastronomic flashbacks would be? Great, swirling saccharine grapefruits attacking from all angles...).

Now, to bring me back to my original point, if only there was a small, unimposing berry growing somewhere, which, when rolled around one's mouth for a few moments, might neutralize the eye-watering bitterness of unmarried women.