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

Nature, as they say, invites us to the table with appetite and rewards us with taste. But what exactly is taste? Why do we like some tastes and dislike others? "The Origin of Tastes" is an engaging dive into the rich substance of these questions.

Generously seasoning the narrative with sincerity and wit, the authors explain how the search for pleasant tastes turned out to be the secret ingredient of the entire human story.

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