Der Geschmacksthesaurus

Why do apple and cinnamon taste so good together, or cheese and grapes, or even chocolate and chili? The answer is provided by Niki Segnit with her flavor thesaurus: she categorizes 99 foods into different groups such as mustardy, earthy, fruity, pairs them together, and comments on the results in entertaining short pieces. Cucumber with mint becomes cooler than a hitman couple, and avocado with lime turns into Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra singing "Some Velvet Morning," with Lee contributing the velvety avocado note and Nancy the high lime tone that pierces through the softness just when it gets too cozy. With literary anecdotes, delicious recipes, and personal preferences, the thesaurus is a successful blend of flavor lexicon, cookbook, and travelogue, making it suitable as entertaining bedtime reading as well as a serious recipe collection.