I try to keep up with much of the bestselling food and nutrition literature. For instance, I just finished Michael Pollan’s “Cooked” (excellent!). However, I tend to neglect some of the ‘oldiesbut goodies’ and Diane Ackerman’s “A Natural History of the Senses” (1990) falls into this category. A copy of this book was given to me 15 years ago when I started my career asa sensory scientist in the food industry - shame on me for just reading it now! This book provides a broad anthropological understanding of the 5 senses and is divided into chapters that exploresmell, touch, taste, hearing & vision. It is beautifully written, almost poetic. The chapters on ‘smell’ and ‘taste’ are of most relevance for food and nutrition professionals but all arehighly engaging.
This is one of my favorite quotes from the book (page 142) that for me is the epitome of mindful eating....
“We normally chew about a hundred times a minute. But, if we let something linger in our mouth, feel its texture, smell its bouquet, roll it around on the tongue, then chew it slowly so thatwe can hear its echoes, what we’re really doing is savoring it, using several senses in a gustatory free for all.”
The book also deals some interesting facts about the nature of human perception:
The Greeks and Romans could tell what body of water it came from just from tasting a fish.
Some fascinating science:
Orange juice tastes bitter after we brush our teeth because our taste buds have membranes that contain fatlike phosolipids and toothpaste contains a detergent that breaks down fat andgrease.
And some interesting little known facts about food we eat:
Legend has it that croissants originated during the celebration of Austria’s victory of the Ottoman Turks in 1683. To celebrate, bakers created a pastry in the shape of the crescent on theTurkish Flag so Viennese diners could ‘devour’ then enemy.
As an interesting relevant side bar, check out this recent news on a SyrianRebel Council banning croissants.
If you want to take your appreciation with food (and life in general) to the next level, I highly recommend you read this book. You can find it onAmazon for $14.53. Or check your local library. They probably will have several copies of this bestseller.