At the age of 22, Molly was an aspiring chef with a head full of recipes and a place at one of the country's most prestigious cookery schools. But then she was involved in a car accident which destroyed her sense of smell - and with it her ability to taste, her desire to cook, and her dreams of working in a restaurant. Season to Taste is the story of what happened next, as Molly picked herself back up and set off on 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 behind olfaction, pheromones, and Proust's madeleine; she meets leading experts, including the writer Oliver Sacks, scientist Stuart Firestein, and perfumer Christophe Laudamiel; and she visits a pioneering flavour laboratory, eats at Grant Achatz's legendary Chicago restaurant Alinea, and enrolls at a renowned perfume school in Grasse, all in an effort to understand and overcome her condition.
From cinnamon and cedarwood, to bacon and her boyfriend's shirt, Molly Birnbaum gradually rediscovers the scented world and captures in words - apt and piquant words - the rich layer of life that tends to be wordless.
