The Origin of Tastes. How a Love of Food Made Us Human

Nature, as they say, invites us to the table through appetite and rewards us with flavor. But what exactly is flavor? Why do we like some flavors and not others? "The Origin of Tastes" is a fascinating dive into the... rich substance of these questions.

Generously spicing the narrative with sincerity and wit, the authors narrate how the quest for pleasant flavors turned out to be the secret ingredient of the entire human story.

You will learn about the role of taste preferences in the creation of the first tools and the extinction of giant mammals, about the evolution of the most appetizing and nutritious fruits, and about the formation of our sociality. For dessert, you will be offered the best way to ferment a mastodon, a story about the connection between cheese and Paleolithic art — and much more.