A philosopher-chef's moving meditation on the pleasures of our shared humanity and how it can be most fully experienced in making and sharing food.
Our daily rhythms and most meaningful relationships center on the dining table, and so nothing is more essential to a good life than satisfying meals with friends and family. In To Taste, philosopher and sous-chef Scott Samuelson invites us into his kitchen, where he blends moving personal stories with insights from some of the world's greatest thinkers into a rich but simple argument: our daily labor, in making food or otherwise, should connect us with other people.
For Samuelson, the pleasures of excellent cooking illuminate this value in particularly compelling ways. When we embrace the work required to prepare and share a good meal, we learn to honor tradition, practice hospitality, respect nature, cherish festivity, and nurture skill-all ethics that resist our increasingly dehumanized world. Ultimately, Samuelson argues that cooking, especially the elusive decision to season a dish "to taste," contains the full mystery of human life.
Whether you're a professional chef or your best culinary feat involves a can opener, To Taste can help you cook up a life that elicits a glorious mmm.
| ISBN: | 9780226853666 |
| Publication date: | 19th November 2026 |
| Author: | Scott Samuelson |
| Publisher: | The University of Chicago Press an imprint of University of Chicago Press |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 224 pages |
| Genres: |
Social and political philosophy Cookery, Food and Drink |
A philosopher-chef's moving meditation on the pleasures of our shared humanity and how it can be most fully experienced in making and sharing food.
Our daily rhythms and most meaningful relationships center on the dining table, and so nothing is more essential to a good life than satisfying meals with friends and family. In To Taste, philosopher and sous-chef Scott Samuelson invites us into his kitchen, where he blends moving personal stories with insights from some of the world's greatest thinkers into a rich but simple argument: our daily labor, in making food or otherwise, should connect us with other people.
For Samuelson, the pleasures of excellent cooking illuminate this value in particularly compelling ways. When we embrace the work required to prepare and share a good meal, we learn to honor tradition, practice hospitality, respect nature, cherish festivity, and nurture skill-all ethics that resist our increasingly dehumanized world. Ultimately, Samuelson argues that cooking, especially the elusive decision to season a dish "to taste," contains the full mystery of human life.
Whether you're a professional chef or your best culinary feat involves a can opener, To Taste can help you cook up a life that elicits a glorious mmm.
To Taste features in the following genres: Social and political philosophy, Cookery, Food and Drink
To Taste is available in Hardback
To Taste was written by Scott Samuelson and published by The University of Chicago Press an imprint of University of Chicago Press
To Taste has 224 pages
£14.40