My first guest was University of Vermont Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences Professor Amy Trubek to talk about her new book The Taste of Place - A cultural Journey into terroir.
How
and why do we think about food, taste it, and cook it? While much has
been written about the concept of terroir as it relates to wine, in this
vibrant, personal book, Amy Trubek, a pioneering voice in the new
culinary revolution, expands the concept of terroir beyond wine and into
cuisine and culture more broadly. Bringing together lively stories of
people farming, cooking, and eating, she focuses on a series of examples
ranging from shagbark hickory nuts in Wisconsin and maple syrup in
Vermont to wines from northern California. She explains how the complex
concepts of terroir and goût de terroir are instrumental to
France's food and wine culture and then explores the multifaceted
connections between taste and place in both cuisine and agriculture in
the United States. How can we reclaim the taste of place, and what can
it mean for us in a country where, on average, any food has traveled at
least fifteen hundred miles from farm to table? Written for anyone
interested in food, this book shows how the taste of place matters now,
and how it can mediate between our local desires and our global reality
to define and challenge American food practices