Season to Taste: How I Lost My Sense of Smell and Found My Way

Season to Taste: How I Lost My Sense of Smell and Found My Way

by Molly Birnbaum (Author), Molly Birnbaum (Author)

Synopsis

When an accident obliterated Molly Birnbaum's sense of smell, it also destroyed her dream of becoming a chef, and sent her instead upon a brave and uncertain mission to reawaken her nose. Writing with emotional honesty, intellectual curiosity, and a foodie's feel for descriptive precision, she explores the science of olfaction and pheromones, ponders Proust's madeleine and her own scent memory, and quizzes psychologists, perfumiers, and ice-cream inventors, all in an effort to overcome her condition. From cinnamon and cedarwood to bacon and her boyfriend's shirt, we follow Molly as she gradually rediscovers the scented world and captures in apt, piquant words the rich layer of life that tends to be wordless.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 320
Publisher: Granta Books
Published: 03 May 2012

ISBN 10: 1846273846
ISBN 13: 9781846273841
Book Overview: From a young chef who suddenly lost her sense of smell, a fascinating personal exploration of this most nebulous of senses and the role it plays in how we eat, how we perceive the world, how we remember the past, and how we attract each other.

Media Reviews
Tantalizing. . . . A pilgrimage out of devastation, toward reclaiming the dream of being a chef. . . . Where [Birnbaum] ends up will surprise you, much as it did her. --Washington Post
Author Bio
MOLLY BIRNBAUM is a recipient of the Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship in Arts and Culture from Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism. Her work has appeared in the New York Times and ARTnews magazine, and writes the popular food blog My Madeleine (http://mollysmadeleine.blogspot.com/ ). This is her first book.