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

“A rich, engrossing, and deeply intelligent story….This is a book I won’t soon forget.”
—Molly Wizenberg, bestselling author ofA Homemade Life

“Fresh, smart, and consistently surprising. If this beautifully written book were a smell, it would be a crisp green apple.”
—Claire Dederer, bestselling author ofPoser

Season to Tasteis an aspiring chef’s moving account of finding her way—in the kitchen and beyond—after a tragic accident destroys her sense of smell. Molly Birnbaum’s remarkable story—written with the good cheer and great charm of popular food writers Laurie Colwin and Ruth Reichl—is destined to stand alongside Julie Powell’sJulie and Juliaas a classic tale of a cooking life.Season to Tasteis sad, funny, joyous, and inspiring.

When a head injury obliterated twenty-two-year-old Molly Birnbaum’s sense of smell, it destroyed her dream of becoming a chef. Determined to reawaken her nose, she bravely sets off on a quest to rediscover the scented world. On the way, she seeks out everyone from former poet laureate Robert Pinsky to neuroscientist Oliver Sacks. A moving personal story packed with surprising facts about the senses,Season to Tastebrims with the scents of Molly’s world—cinnamon, cedarwood, fresh bagels, and lavender—lost and finally found. InSeason to Taste, Molly describes an ineffable, but indispensable, layer of life.

After reading Birnbaums smart, lovely book, readers will be reminded to savor their next meal, each fragrant bite.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.Rich and insightful. . . . A veritable feast for the reader.Powerfully explores the science of smell and its ties to emotion, love and even ml³"