Description
Book SynopsisTaste is a lyric meditation on one of our five senses. Structured as a series of “small bites,” the book considers the ways that we ingest the world. Through flavorful explorations of the sweet, the sour, the salty, the bitter, and umami, Jehanne Dubrow reflects on the nature of taste.
Trade ReviewPoet Dubrow (
Wild Kingdom) considers the five basic tastes—sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami—in this amusing collection of essays. . . Dubrow’s musings are at once sober and evocative, and she succeeds admirably in getting “around the ungainliness of words by finding metaphors for taste.” These thoughtful meditations offer lots to savor. * Publishers Weekly *
Captivating, engrossing, and thought-provoking essays. -- Chris Manno * Lone Star Literary Life *
If 'tasting may begin with sight' (and what a synaesthetic provocation
that is!) Dubrow goes on to show this strangely elusive sense manifesting in every form of perception—mind, body, and soul. She writes: 'We acquire tastes just as we acquire knowledge: with time and patience, a belief that the pursuit can lead to something delicious'—and
something delicious describes this trove of riches perfectly. -- Lia Purpura, author of
All the Fierce TethersJehanne Dubrow is an intellectual sensualist, a writer of sometimes lyrical, sometimes directly colloquial, and always critical sensibility, her mnemonic taste buds open to memory's compromised dishes, its condiments and aftertaste. While other food-memory books sometimes threaten an overindulgence of richness, in
Taste, Dubrow's sharp wit and self-awareness serve as the perfect digestivo. -- David Lazar, author of
Celeste Holm Syndrome: On Character Actors from Hollywood's Golden AgeThis is a book I wish I had written. In
Taste, Dubrow’s range of allusions, from visual arts to poetry, are movingly conveyed. It is to be sampled as a cornucopia of 'small bites.' A viaticum of sorts, and a damn good read. -- Albert Sonnenfeld, translator of
Food: A Culinary HistoryIn the form of a very elegantly written essay, Dubrow argues that taste is the main form of access to the world and others. And also, and most importantly, to ourselves. A poetic homage to the power and mysteries of taste. -- Barbara Carnevali, author of
Social Appearances: A Philosophy of Display and PrestigeIt is both learned and light, personal and general, experiential and analytical but mostly wears its wisdom lightly. It is an exemplar of the genre of sensuous and sensory writing. * The European Legacy *
Table of ContentsAperitif: And I Will Tell You What You Are
Sweet
Sour
Salty
Bitter
Umami
Digestif: O, to Take What We Love Inside
Acknowledgments
Works Cited
Index
