What do you think?
Rate this book
Delicious: The Evolution of Flavor and How It Made Us Human
Rob Dunn and Monica Sanchez offer new perspectives on why food is enjoyable and how the pursuit of delicious flavors has guided the course of human history. They consider the role that flavor may have played in the invention of the first tools, the extinction of giant mammals, the evolution of the world's most delicious and fatty fruits, the creation of beer, and our own sociality. Along the way, you will learn about the taste receptors you didn't even know you had, the best way to ferment a mastodon, the relationship between Paleolithic art and cheese, and much more.
Blending storytelling with the latest science, Delicious is a deep history of flavor that will informs on human evolution and the gustatory pleasures of the foods we eat.
Blending storytelling with the latest science, Delicious is a deep history of flavor that will informs on human evolution and the gustatory pleasures of the foods we eat.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published March 23, 2021
67 people are currently reading
1377 people want to read
About the author
Rob Dunn
17 books140 followersRobert Dunn is a biologist, writer and professor in the Department of Applied Ecology at North Carolina State University.
He has written several books and his science essays have appeared at magazines such as BBC Wildlife Magazine, Scientific American, Smithsonian Magazine, National Geographic and others. He has become known for efforts to involve the public as citizen scientists.
Dunn's writings have considered the quest to find new superheavy elements, why men are bald, how modern chickens evolved, whether a virus can make a person fat, the beauty of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the biology of insect eggs, the secret lives of cats, the theory of ecological medicine, why the way we think about calories is wrong, and why monkeys (and once upon a time, human women) tend to give birth at night.
Ph.D., Ecology and Evolution, University of Connecticut (2003). He was a Fulbright fellow in Australia. He is currently the William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor at NC State University.
{more at Wikipedia}
He has written several books and his science essays have appeared at magazines such as BBC Wildlife Magazine, Scientific American, Smithsonian Magazine, National Geographic and others. He has become known for efforts to involve the public as citizen scientists.
Dunn's writings have considered the quest to find new superheavy elements, why men are bald, how modern chickens evolved, whether a virus can make a person fat, the beauty of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the biology of insect eggs, the secret lives of cats, the theory of ecological medicine, why the way we think about calories is wrong, and why monkeys (and once upon a time, human women) tend to give birth at night.
Ph.D., Ecology and Evolution, University of Connecticut (2003). He was a Fulbright fellow in Australia. He is currently the William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor at NC State University.
{more at Wikipedia}
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
Read
March 28, 2021There is a very odd tone to this book because it has been written by two authors who wish to have two voices, as is made clear in the introduction. It is quite disconcerting to be reading some science and data and then have, "Rob went to..." or whatever. It is as if you are at a dinner party where the man is a very learned professor, quite interesting but given to going on and on and not knowing when the other guests are losing interest, but his more socially-aware female partner does, and at those times interjects something more relatable.
It doesn't make the book bad, it is well-written and interesting, but it makes my teeth grind everytime there is a "Rob" this that or the other. I would rather it had been written seamlessly, with one voice.
It doesn't make the book bad, it is well-written and interesting, but it makes my teeth grind everytime there is a "Rob" this that or the other. I would rather it had been written seamlessly, with one voice.
April 21, 2022
Delicious is a popular science book describing how we perceive flavour in food and how that has affected human evolution. The book describes the reasons for how different meats taste differently, or interesting facts such that cats don't perceive the sweet flavour. It was interesting to read the part about when humans arrived to America, how the large mammals like the giant sloth were quickly hunted, leaving plants that produce large fruits without animals to eat them and to propagate the seeds; however, many of these fruits were also appetising to humans, who started cultivating them, filling the needed niche of seed propagator for them.
On the negative side, the human-evolutionary part of the book reads a lot like an informal discussion, with more conjecture than facts, and I feel it falls into the trap of suggesting that human evolution stems from the desire of early humans to acquire flavourful food, which prompted them to start hunting, use tools, acquire speech, etc. I feel that is an oversimplification, and evolution of humankind was the result of many more factors that cannot be separated from each other.
On the negative side, the human-evolutionary part of the book reads a lot like an informal discussion, with more conjecture than facts, and I feel it falls into the trap of suggesting that human evolution stems from the desire of early humans to acquire flavourful food, which prompted them to start hunting, use tools, acquire speech, etc. I feel that is an oversimplification, and evolution of humankind was the result of many more factors that cannot be separated from each other.
August 10, 2021
Rob Dunn and Monica Sanchez, both American academics, start their discussion of the importance of food flavors and taste in human evolution by quoting Eric Schlosser, author of the bestselling Fast Food Nation: “The human craving for flavor has been a largely unacknowledged and unexamined force in history.” Dunn and Sanchez seem to be in full agreement, yet the aim of their own book is to take this idea further—from simply acknowledging the importance of food flavors to understanding their history, biology, and nature. They weave together what chefs know about the experience of food, what ecologists know about the needs of animals, and what evolutionary biologists know about how our senses evolved. Together, this knowledge tells the story of how we have been led by our noses through evolutionary history, turning from chimp-like primate precursors to modern, dinner-obsessed Homo sapiens.
May 12, 2021
Being both interested in nutrition and evolutionary theory, I already had some background in the topic. However, it wasn't anything in-depth so the fact that there was a book about the evolution of flavour made me very interested. It's certainly a niche topic and I thought it might be cool to read.
When the diets of early humans are discussed, they are talked about in survival terms. While that certainly plays a role, that's not how we talk about our diets today. We care about flavour, and it's one of the main factors of anything we eat.
While for obvious reasons survival would have played a bigger role in the past, it's not at all clear that the flavour factor would simply be absent. Yet it's never really addressed in this type of literature.
Furthermore, this topic is one that is generally quite compartmentalized. What the authors tried to do was study flavour from an overall perspective that would encompass different fields, from evolutionary biology, ecology, neuroscience, paleoanthropology, and other fields that generally don't really talk with each other. This was a very laudable goal and one that achieved well.
The style of the book isn't very standard. I think they tried really hard to not make it the standard non-fiction read that spells facts at you, and attempted to make a story out of it. It helped to some degree, but it also felt forced. And the fact that there isn't a super coherent narrative throughout cannot be hidden no matter how many stories you put into it. This lack of coherence bothered me a bit, especially in the beginning. But as I read on, I tended to better appreciate the style.
There were tons of cool facts that I learned, and some that I was surprised how I never heard of it. From how human evolution made us find food sweeter than it actually is, from how pigs are so attracted to truffles.
My favourite part of the entire book was why we prefer different meats and what affects their flavour. Lean meat is not very tasty because it's mostly muscle, which is bland. They are Fast-twitch muscle fibres which are required for bursts of high-intensity effort. On the other hand, slow-twitch muscle fibers is the "red meat", which have fat intertwined in the muscle. And the richer flavours come from fat and collagen.
But what really surprised me was that within fatty meats, why do some taste better than others? You might have heard that what an animal eats affects its flavor. This is partially true. It does happen, but not with all animals.
The tastier meats are ones that absorb some flavours from foods we enjoy, becoming trapped in the fat. How much that absorption happens depends on how effective the animal is at processing the food. The better their digestion, the lesser the effect. If they digest it well, then not much gets absorb, and their flavor is quite consistent. Otherwise, the flavor can vary. And if they happen to eat things that we like or work well with the natural meat flavors, then it makes it delicious. The type of muscle affects flavor as well.
Its anthropological aspect is quite interesting as well. Common "optimal foraging" approaches don't fully explain how some communities actually eat. Sometimes prey that is big and easy to kill are rarely killed simply because they don't taste that great. And sometimes hunting is pursued to such an extreme extent that it likely does not pay off the work done for it. Possibly caused by the social prestige involved in successful hunting.
There were many other such facts, and some of them very enjoyable to read. But as mentioned, often without having anything to do with each other. The biggest problem with this is that sometimes there are certain topics that are simply boring and don't add anything central to the book. For example, there was a chapter on the history of cheese making, and while I love cheese to death, I found it pretty tedious. The content also seems to be extended as much as possible. There are many tangents and often it feels like filler, which I think sometimes it truly is.
I think the positive outweighs the negative, and overall it was an interesting read. But it is rather specific in its scope, so if you don't care too much about evolution or eating, this probably isn't for you.
When the diets of early humans are discussed, they are talked about in survival terms. While that certainly plays a role, that's not how we talk about our diets today. We care about flavour, and it's one of the main factors of anything we eat.
While for obvious reasons survival would have played a bigger role in the past, it's not at all clear that the flavour factor would simply be absent. Yet it's never really addressed in this type of literature.
Furthermore, this topic is one that is generally quite compartmentalized. What the authors tried to do was study flavour from an overall perspective that would encompass different fields, from evolutionary biology, ecology, neuroscience, paleoanthropology, and other fields that generally don't really talk with each other. This was a very laudable goal and one that achieved well.
The style of the book isn't very standard. I think they tried really hard to not make it the standard non-fiction read that spells facts at you, and attempted to make a story out of it. It helped to some degree, but it also felt forced. And the fact that there isn't a super coherent narrative throughout cannot be hidden no matter how many stories you put into it. This lack of coherence bothered me a bit, especially in the beginning. But as I read on, I tended to better appreciate the style.
There were tons of cool facts that I learned, and some that I was surprised how I never heard of it. From how human evolution made us find food sweeter than it actually is, from how pigs are so attracted to truffles.
My favourite part of the entire book was why we prefer different meats and what affects their flavour. Lean meat is not very tasty because it's mostly muscle, which is bland. They are Fast-twitch muscle fibres which are required for bursts of high-intensity effort. On the other hand, slow-twitch muscle fibers is the "red meat", which have fat intertwined in the muscle. And the richer flavours come from fat and collagen.
But what really surprised me was that within fatty meats, why do some taste better than others? You might have heard that what an animal eats affects its flavor. This is partially true. It does happen, but not with all animals.
The tastier meats are ones that absorb some flavours from foods we enjoy, becoming trapped in the fat. How much that absorption happens depends on how effective the animal is at processing the food. The better their digestion, the lesser the effect. If they digest it well, then not much gets absorb, and their flavor is quite consistent. Otherwise, the flavor can vary. And if they happen to eat things that we like or work well with the natural meat flavors, then it makes it delicious. The type of muscle affects flavor as well.
Its anthropological aspect is quite interesting as well. Common "optimal foraging" approaches don't fully explain how some communities actually eat. Sometimes prey that is big and easy to kill are rarely killed simply because they don't taste that great. And sometimes hunting is pursued to such an extreme extent that it likely does not pay off the work done for it. Possibly caused by the social prestige involved in successful hunting.
There were many other such facts, and some of them very enjoyable to read. But as mentioned, often without having anything to do with each other. The biggest problem with this is that sometimes there are certain topics that are simply boring and don't add anything central to the book. For example, there was a chapter on the history of cheese making, and while I love cheese to death, I found it pretty tedious. The content also seems to be extended as much as possible. There are many tangents and often it feels like filler, which I think sometimes it truly is.
I think the positive outweighs the negative, and overall it was an interesting read. But it is rather specific in its scope, so if you don't care too much about evolution or eating, this probably isn't for you.
March 10, 2024
i cannot believe the part about the guy who scattered the horse limbs in the frozen pond to try to test how early humans might have preserved food…. What a legend I can’t believe he did that
August 6, 2021
A medical anthropologist and an applied ecologist, a husband-wife duo, pontificate on the evolutionary underpinnings of flavor in pseudo-fireside-chat format enriched from their worldwide culinary excursions.
The book introduces phenomenal topics on the evolution of flavor:
- Functional genetic taste receptors and the impact of taste receptor pseudogenes on food selection. (outdated, incomplete and no longer functional genes; e.g. cats lost the ability to taste sweetness, humans lost the ability to synthesize vitamin C, etc.,)
- How physiological changes to the nasal cavity from walking upright allowed humans to experience the retronasal contributions of flavor. Retronasal is the ability to "smell" food from inside the mouth; why stinky cheeses surprisingly taste good.
- In-depth exploration of culinary extinction: the relationship of homo-sapiens mobility and consequent death of large prehistoric animals (mastodons, giant owls, sloths and horses, etc.)
- Postulations on fermentation as the original agricultural revolution, implicating the functional role of sour taste receptors and evidence of ancient-world fermentation techniques to preserve large game (ie, mastodons, etc.,).
The dual-authorship approach however does create issues of "tone."
Depending upon your take: this is a culinary exploration embedded with lots of dry science OR a scientific exploration interspersed with the tedium of Trappist-monk soft-cheese making.
Either way: a win!
The book introduces phenomenal topics on the evolution of flavor:
- Functional genetic taste receptors and the impact of taste receptor pseudogenes on food selection. (outdated, incomplete and no longer functional genes; e.g. cats lost the ability to taste sweetness, humans lost the ability to synthesize vitamin C, etc.,)
- How physiological changes to the nasal cavity from walking upright allowed humans to experience the retronasal contributions of flavor. Retronasal is the ability to "smell" food from inside the mouth; why stinky cheeses surprisingly taste good.
- In-depth exploration of culinary extinction: the relationship of homo-sapiens mobility and consequent death of large prehistoric animals (mastodons, giant owls, sloths and horses, etc.)
- Postulations on fermentation as the original agricultural revolution, implicating the functional role of sour taste receptors and evidence of ancient-world fermentation techniques to preserve large game (ie, mastodons, etc.,).
The dual-authorship approach however does create issues of "tone."
Depending upon your take: this is a culinary exploration embedded with lots of dry science OR a scientific exploration interspersed with the tedium of Trappist-monk soft-cheese making.
Either way: a win!
January 3, 2023
شغلت طبيعة المتعة والاستياء البشر منذ أن جلس أوائلل الفلاسفة من العصر الحجري القديم حول نار، يطهون اللحوم ويتحدثون. أية أسئلة يمكن ان تكون اهم من «لماذا نشعر بالسرور او الاستياء ؟». أو «متى ولماذا نسمح لأنفسنا أن نتمتع بالسرور أو نخضع أنفسنا للاستياء؟» في القرن الأول قبل الميلاد، قدم الشاعر الروماني لوكريتيوس إجابة . أشار إلى أن الحياة الجيدة يمكن أن تكون حياة يتم فيها تحقيق المتعة وتجنب الاستياء. سجل لوكريتيوس أفكاره في قصيدة مؤثرة بعنوان De rerum natura وترجمت عادة إلى On the Nature of Things أو On the Nature of the Universe (حول طبيعة الأشياء) .
قدمت القصيدة أفكار لوكريتيوس إلى جمهور كبير. لم تكن أفكارًا جديدة، ليس بالكامل. في جزء منها، كان لوكريتيوس يكرر ويعيد كتابة أفكار الفيلسوف اليوناني أبيقور. لكن هذه الأفكار أعطيت مع ذلك وضوحًا وجمالًا جديدين. ومع ذلك، عندما انهارت الإمبراطورية الرومانية الغربية، ضاعت كلمات لوكريتيوس شيئًا فشيئًا. بحلول أواخر العصور الوسطى، كان الدليل الأساسي على وجود لوكريتيوس غير مباشر.
يمكن العثور عليه فقط في كتابات علماء آخرين، علماء ذكروا وأحيانًا اقتبسوا مقتطفات قصيرة محيرة من قصيدته .
.
Rob Dunn
Delicious
Translated By #Maher_Razouk
قدمت القصيدة أفكار لوكريتيوس إلى جمهور كبير. لم تكن أفكارًا جديدة، ليس بالكامل. في جزء منها، كان لوكريتيوس يكرر ويعيد كتابة أفكار الفيلسوف اليوناني أبيقور. لكن هذه الأفكار أعطيت مع ذلك وضوحًا وجمالًا جديدين. ومع ذلك، عندما انهارت الإمبراطورية الرومانية الغربية، ضاعت كلمات لوكريتيوس شيئًا فشيئًا. بحلول أواخر العصور الوسطى، كان الدليل الأساسي على وجود لوكريتيوس غير مباشر.
يمكن العثور عليه فقط في كتابات علماء آخرين، علماء ذكروا وأحيانًا اقتبسوا مقتطفات قصيرة محيرة من قصيدته .
.
Rob Dunn
Delicious
Translated By #Maher_Razouk
December 18, 2021
I learned a lot from this book!!
For example:
-cats don't taste sweet
-elephant foot is probably the most delicious meat ever
-humans are the only animals that combine foods
-many different animals will choose a food that is more "delicious" over a more calorically sustainable one
also not to be a celebrity but i did TA for h*rvard professor dan liberman who is quoted in this book a lot (he is obsessed with walking and running)
For example:
-cats don't taste sweet
-elephant foot is probably the most delicious meat ever
-humans are the only animals that combine foods
-many different animals will choose a food that is more "delicious" over a more calorically sustainable one
also not to be a celebrity but i did TA for h*rvard professor dan liberman who is quoted in this book a lot (he is obsessed with walking and running)
August 16, 2023
Hay muchos datos interesantes, pero también muchas aseveraciones super dudosas.
March 12, 2025
very interesting #anthropology
January 8, 2025
we all came from a long line of big backs
October 11, 2021
In some ways exploring the distant past of any species, especially our own, is a matter of connecting dots between actual empirical evidence, clues that are not or cannot be proven, and making educated guesses where no actual data exists. It's not possible to know exactly if or how the flavor of foods impacted our prehuman and prehistoric human ancestors. Scientists have to glean what evidence they can from fossil remains and what can be observed in similar modern creatures. It's a puzzle that can create more than one reasonable image of the past. It's similar in many ways to good historical fiction which is based on known facts but enhanced by the imagination of a knowledgable, competent author.
Authors Rob Dunn and Monica Sanchez combine their credentials, one a medical anthropologist and the other an applied ecologist, to explore the origin of food preferences in humans and how they evolved over time and ultimately changed us. They present the known data and then discuss what they believe may have happened in the distant past. They conclude that flavor and desire for pleasure in food significantly influenced the behavior of pre-humans and early humans to the extent that our brains enlarged while our jaws and teeth became smaller. Other examples are provided but always these authors remind their readers that much of what they propose is conjecture, based firmly on their academic background, observations, and experience, but conjecture nonetheless. They present intriguing possibilities for our consideration but never claim to have the correct or final answer.
This book is an informal discussion, but one that depends on current research as its foundation. I found it thought-provoking and enjoyable. I love food and will spend more time than I should preparing what I most relish without a great deal of concern for nutritional gain. I eat what I most enjoy and happily pay far more in effort and money for my favorites than I gain in pure sustenance. Even my dogs will all work far harder for their favorite treats than they ever would for their daily healthy meals. Why should this seemingly illogical behavior not also not be true of us humans as well as those who came before us.
This is a good book of moderate length, easily understood with a minimum of scientific background. I'm glad I ran across it.
Authors Rob Dunn and Monica Sanchez combine their credentials, one a medical anthropologist and the other an applied ecologist, to explore the origin of food preferences in humans and how they evolved over time and ultimately changed us. They present the known data and then discuss what they believe may have happened in the distant past. They conclude that flavor and desire for pleasure in food significantly influenced the behavior of pre-humans and early humans to the extent that our brains enlarged while our jaws and teeth became smaller. Other examples are provided but always these authors remind their readers that much of what they propose is conjecture, based firmly on their academic background, observations, and experience, but conjecture nonetheless. They present intriguing possibilities for our consideration but never claim to have the correct or final answer.
This book is an informal discussion, but one that depends on current research as its foundation. I found it thought-provoking and enjoyable. I love food and will spend more time than I should preparing what I most relish without a great deal of concern for nutritional gain. I eat what I most enjoy and happily pay far more in effort and money for my favorites than I gain in pure sustenance. Even my dogs will all work far harder for their favorite treats than they ever would for their daily healthy meals. Why should this seemingly illogical behavior not also not be true of us humans as well as those who came before us.
This is a good book of moderate length, easily understood with a minimum of scientific background. I'm glad I ran across it.
December 29, 2024
Ako sa fermentoval mastodont? Prečo je kyslá chuť iná než tie ostatné? Ako mnísi v kláštoroch ovplyvnili výrobu špecifických syrov? Prečo majú mačky inaktivované receptory sladkej chuti? Manželia – on evolučný biológ, ona antropologička – sa stretávali s mnohými vedcami a odborníkmi, viedli s nimi mnoho rozhovorov „u ohně, až už u ohňů skutečných, u starých kamen v katalánských domech, u stolů v západní Francii, nebo v Institutu Marxe Plancka“, aby poskladali príbeh, akú úlohu hrala chuť v evolúcii človeka. Pre vedeckejšie založených možno nebude dosť vedecká, pre laika však každopádne mimoriadne zaujímavá (a pôsobivý poznámkový aparát naznačuje, že mnohé z toho, čo znie ako domnienka, je podložené, v tomto som však naozaj čistý laik). Od vecí, o ktorých ste už možno počuli, ako je Maillardova reakcia, stechiometrické rovnice, či Ikeda a umami, až po také, že vtáky pri konzumovaní čili papričiek necítia pálenie, súvis vyhynutej megafauny a veľkých plodov, alebo celá tá skvelá časť o Lucretiovej básni, mníchovi a rozpore medzi slasťou a neľúbosťou (a ešte aj zaujímavým pohľadom na to, ako sa prekladateľ do češtiny Jan Šindelka vyrovnal s prevodom „taste“ a „flavor“, ktoré sú u nás, rovnako ako v češtine, proste chuť). A vôbec som nečakala, že opis spôsobu psieho čuchania môže byť taký fascinujúci + kapitola o korení je moja najobľúbenejšia. A dokonca tu dostanete aj tip na skvelý výlet: „Město Carreña je dostatečně blízko francouzskému regionu Dordogne, abychom tam dojeli autem. Chcete-li se dostat z jeskynních galerií s nástěnnými malbami v Dordogne do těch v Asturii a sousedním regionu Kantábrie, jeďte směrem na Bordeaux, pak odbočte na jih a pokračujte podél Biskajského zálivu k hranicím s Baskickem. Na hranici se vydejte na západ. Zátoku mějte stále po pravé ruce. Zastavte se v Guggenheimově muzeu v Bilbau, projděte si baskické hory, zakousněte se do baskického ovčího sýra a zanedlouho se ocitnete vprostřed jeskyní. Navštivte starobylé jeskynní galerie v Kantábrii, podobné těm v Dordogne, ale přesto s vlastní jedinečností. Navštivte jich co nejvíc, a až vašim dětem dojde trpělivost, vydejte se do Carreñi za sýrem.“
October 5, 2021
I wanted to stop reading this book a third of the way in, but I’m a masochist. There’s a whole lot of conjecture and not enough actual research. The authors are making a whole lot of grandiose claims that they really can’t back up. For example, they suggest that perhaps language developed around communal eating because of some research showing that chimpanzees yell louder when there is more/better fruit to share. That’s a huge reach. They then wax lyrical about ancient hominids sharing stories around campfires. It’s only on the second to last page that the authors admit they might have overreached. The book is also extremely repetitive from chapter to chapter and there’s not an coherent narrative.
The book works when the authors do stick to extant literature, but this happens much too infrequently. They don’t seem to be working within their fields of expertise.
There’s also a weird tone around their travels and the people they’ve met that comes across as bragging. It could have been a nice travelogue, but it fails on this end.
I’m not sure what the authors intended. A new book on theory? A popular science or anthropology book pulling together strands of research? A travelogue? I’m not sure. Mostly it comes across as a vanity project.
After finishing this book, it fell behind some shelving and will be difficult to reach. I’m content to let it stay there, gathering dust until something more important falls there and I have to dig it out.
The book works when the authors do stick to extant literature, but this happens much too infrequently. They don’t seem to be working within their fields of expertise.
There’s also a weird tone around their travels and the people they’ve met that comes across as bragging. It could have been a nice travelogue, but it fails on this end.
I’m not sure what the authors intended. A new book on theory? A popular science or anthropology book pulling together strands of research? A travelogue? I’m not sure. Mostly it comes across as a vanity project.
After finishing this book, it fell behind some shelving and will be difficult to reach. I’m content to let it stay there, gathering dust until something more important falls there and I have to dig it out.
November 28, 2024
This is very good, in the Mary Roach school of gathering up a bunch of interesting things on a topic and combining them into an amusing narrative.
Seeking to identify why flavor is so important to us from an evolutionary perspective Dunn and Sanchez hone in on a set of flavors and try and figure out why we can taste them in the first place, how they might have benefitted our survival, or at least our ancestors’ both recent and distant, might have evolved.
I think they did a pretty bang-on job for the most part, and I learned a hell of a lot.
For me, I wish the book was a little more technical, and delved even deeper into the March of evolution, and skipped most of the parts about the cheese that didn’t seem to fit into the broader narrative as well (they seemed like they just wanted to talk about cheese and its development for a chapter and did enough research to justify it). Also, their hypothesis is so strongly presented that I wished at times they went into a little more about potentially competing hypotheses even if not as fun or as convincing.
Overall some pretty minor gripes in an otherwise good book.
Seeking to identify why flavor is so important to us from an evolutionary perspective Dunn and Sanchez hone in on a set of flavors and try and figure out why we can taste them in the first place, how they might have benefitted our survival, or at least our ancestors’ both recent and distant, might have evolved.
I think they did a pretty bang-on job for the most part, and I learned a hell of a lot.
For me, I wish the book was a little more technical, and delved even deeper into the March of evolution, and skipped most of the parts about the cheese that didn’t seem to fit into the broader narrative as well (they seemed like they just wanted to talk about cheese and its development for a chapter and did enough research to justify it). Also, their hypothesis is so strongly presented that I wished at times they went into a little more about potentially competing hypotheses even if not as fun or as convincing.
Overall some pretty minor gripes in an otherwise good book.
January 14, 2023
I appreciated how this book was trying to give flavor and pleasure a bigger role in our evolutionary history than we usually think about. It was rejecting the idea that humans and animals do things strictly out of survival and discipline and that life is all about being efficient. Instead there’s evidence that humans and other animals seek pleasures just because, which I feel like is a good reminder to everyone because we forget that its ok to just enjoy things.
This book didn’t exactly prove everything it was offering up but it never promised to anyway. I think its ok to just have theories that make you think and wonder and to not always need proof of everything. However, they did put a lot of evidence in here and interesting facts about how we perceive flavor that I never knew. As someone who loves to eat, this was very informative.
This book didn’t exactly prove everything it was offering up but it never promised to anyway. I think its ok to just have theories that make you think and wonder and to not always need proof of everything. However, they did put a lot of evidence in here and interesting facts about how we perceive flavor that I never knew. As someone who loves to eat, this was very informative.
May 3, 2021
The thesis of this brief book is simple: humans have a genetic taste for flavor that is not explained by the need for nutrition, but may have driven our evolutionary development. It contains plenty of anthropology, history, and evolutionary biology ranging from the extinction of mega-fauna to the functions of shared meals. But the approach is ultimately a bit scattershot, and the simple thesis is neither rigorously supported nor its implications convincingly presented. In the end, this is a nice meditation on why we pursue flavor, but shows more how much work remains to be done than how much work has been done.
September 14, 2021
Who knew that the spices we cherish were evolved to be toxins? Who knew we owe so much to medieval monks for the wide variety of cheeses we love, or love to badmouth? This little book is chock full of delicious details.
At the same time, I was a little disappointed. It was poorly proofread so there are a number of odd errors -- misplaced words, misspelled words. The writing was not uniform and I missed the cheeky amusing style that I expect from Dunn. It sparkled like bits of broken glass catching the sun in a few spots, but there were a number of places where the heavy handed scientific explanations highjacked the narrative.
At the same time, I was a little disappointed. It was poorly proofread so there are a number of odd errors -- misplaced words, misspelled words. The writing was not uniform and I missed the cheeky amusing style that I expect from Dunn. It sparkled like bits of broken glass catching the sun in a few spots, but there were a number of places where the heavy handed scientific explanations highjacked the narrative.
June 14, 2022
Ok I know this is a "me" thing, and no fault of the authors, but I have this utter distaste for fanciful descriptions of food. When I read of shit like "sweet and succulent tastes on the tongue" I get physically nauseated. It's gross.
(Paradoxically, I love watching videos and reading reviews of people deconstructing beer and whiskey flavors and aromas. Go figure.)
Combine this with the audiobook narrator, who -- again, through no fault of his own -- has a slight lisp on the "s"-sound. So I'm listening to descriptions of foods in sentences like "sweet tastes" and "crispy meals" and "tasty flavors on their tongues"... I just can't.
(Paradoxically, I love watching videos and reading reviews of people deconstructing beer and whiskey flavors and aromas. Go figure.)
Combine this with the audiobook narrator, who -- again, through no fault of his own -- has a slight lisp on the "s"-sound. So I'm listening to descriptions of foods in sentences like "sweet tastes" and "crispy meals" and "tasty flavors on their tongues"... I just can't.
September 3, 2022
Taste arises from discrepancy in biological stoichiometry between animals and plants. Flavour arises from plants utilising animal dispersal and chemical defence. These are originally first and foremost survival tools. These stimuli are hedonic. The reward centre can therefore be hijacked by stimuli not directly related to survival. The pursuit of flavorful food deviates from optimal foraging. In a sense, it is an addiction. It also leads to culinary culture. This totally engrossing book propounds this narrative and provides ample anthropological and primatological evidence to support it. The chapters on spices and fermentation will especially satiate the curious gourmand.
July 23, 2021
Tempted to call this 'bland' if it wasn't such a horrible pun - this is based on a great idea backed up by substantial research, but unfortunately the writing style really lets it down. It's clear the aim was to make academic topics accessible through the addition of personal anecdotes, but the result was sadly just a dry narrative surrounded by very weak attempts at humour. The audio version I listened to also didn't improve things - could we please stop reading quotes from French authors in nonfiction books with a bad French accent, it's really getting embarrassing by this point.
May 20, 2021
Really cool microbial science intertwined with early evolution of humans. Everyone nowadays is hyped about brewing kombucha, beer, making sourdough, kimchi...but what about cheese. Super interesting history concerning the origin of our sour taste too. I'm not too big of a chimp fan, so the text lost me in those parts. Wish it was longer so we could read more. Would've been cool to read about some history of bug eating - given Rob's other book topics.
September 23, 2022
I didn’t actually finish this book. It was interesting, if a bit try-too-hard-to-be-funny dry. I actually found the section on culinary extinction of woolly mammoths to be quite interesting.
Then I read the sentence “In giving into temptation, Eve shat and fertilized a baby tree” and I physically could not go on reading. You don’t recover from a sentence like that.
I never stop reading books halfway through but I just couldn’t go on.
Then I read the sentence “In giving into temptation, Eve shat and fertilized a baby tree” and I physically could not go on reading. You don’t recover from a sentence like that.
I never stop reading books halfway through but I just couldn’t go on.
January 6, 2024
I picked up this book because my local library was doing a talk with the author and I thought it would be fun to sit in. I tried many times to get through this book and I just could not get interested in it. That is not to say the book is not interesting but it was not interesting to me. There seem to be a lot of good reviews on it so if you are into the science behind food, this might be the book for you.
May 30, 2021
This was fun. Despite the title, it's not exactly "mouth-watering", but fascinating stories and info. Ya got umami ? MSG is not really bad for you. Early humans probably kept their mastodon meat stored underwater for the season's eating. Certainly makes you appreciate that today we can avail ourselves of unlimited tastes. Well, maybe I am (always) hungry now . . .
June 24, 2021
A delightful thing to read. Full of interesting scientific accounts of deliciousness, gastronomic adventures, and peppered with humourous asides. This book gives support to the compelling ideas that deliciousness may have a big role in our evolution as humans and that the pursuit of anything delicious to eat is a significant aspect of our humanity.
November 18, 2021
This book is probably more interesting than I'm giving it credit for but the audiobook had too many annoying pronunciations (Nik-a-RAG- yoo-ah / shall-OTT, etc.) and fake accents for me to really give it the attention it deserved. I would be willing to give the print version a try at some point, but I do not recommend the audiobook.
May 1, 2022
3.5 stars. I'm a self-proclaimed foodie, and I found many of the points the authors make in this book fascinating. However, I don't think the writing is captivating enough to engage someone without a pre-established interest in the subject matter. It did give me some new stories to share over dinner with friends though!
June 16, 2022
The material was ok, nothing terrible but nothing to write home about either. The narration on the other hand was atrocious. It’s a shame because it’s such an interesting topic done so badly. The narrator sounded like Alexa on a bad day. Also some recording issues as well. Moving on to something new.
April 26, 2023
I liked this book a lot. It discusses how flavor may have influenced human evolution. Their research methods were quite clever in some cases. Some of their arguments reach beyond the evidence but they acknowledge this in the text. There was some very interesting elements I had never considered before. Worth a read if you like food and/anthropology.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews