Season to Taste: How I Lost My Sense of Smell and Found My Way

“A rich, engrossing, and deeply intelligent story….This is a book I won’t soon forget.”

—Molly Wizenberg, bestselling author of A Homemade Life

“Fresh, smart, and consistently surprising. If this beautifully written book were a smell, it would be a crisp green apple.”

—Claire Dederer, bestselling author of Poser

Season to Taste is an aspiring chef’s moving account of finding her way—in the kitchen and beyond—after a tragic accident destroys her sense of smell. Molly Birnbaum’s remarkable story—written with the good cheer and great charm of popular food writers Laurie Colwin and Ruth Reichl—is destined to stand alongside Julie Powell’s Julie and Julia as a classic tale of a cooking life. Season to Taste is sad, funny, joyous, and inspiring.

How do you reclaim a future that depends on a sense you no longer have?

• Anosmia and Recovery: Follow Molly Birnbaum’s journey after a car accident destroys her sense of smell, derailing her dream of becoming a chef and forcing her to find a new path forward.
• Food and Memory: A fascinating exploration of the science behind our senses, and the powerful, often mysterious connection between aroma, emotion, and memory.
• An Inspirational Story: Written with the charm of Laurie Colwin and the insight of Ruth Reichl, this is a story of loss, resilience, and the joy of rediscovering your passion against all odds.
• For Fans of Julie & Julia: A classic tale of a cooking life, this book is a must-read for foodies, aspiring chefs, and anyone who has ever had to start over.

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When a head injury obliterated twenty-two-year-old Molly Birnbaum’s sense of smell, it destroyed her dream of becoming a chef. Determined to reawaken her nose, she bravely sets off on a quest to rediscover the scented world. On the way, she seeks out everyone from former poet laureate Robert Pinsky to neuroscientist Oliver Sacks. A moving personal story packed with surprising facts about the senses, Season to Taste brims with the scents of Molly’s world—cinnamon, cedarwood, fresh bagels, and lavender—lost and finally found. In Season to Taste, Molly describes an ineffable, but indispensable, layer of life.

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“A wonderful book about life’s unexpected turns, about love and its complexities, and about the ineffably mysterious human brain. I couldn’t stop telling people about it, while I was reading it. It will make you see your nose, your life, and your most important decisions in a whole new way.” - Maile Meloy, bestselling author of Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It

“Season to Taste would be a lovely food memoir, if it were only that. It would be a fascinating book about the sense of smell, and about a loss that might have undone someone less brave, curious, and persistent than Molly Birnbaum. But it’s also something more: it’s a book about life’s unexpected turns, about love and its complexities, and about the ineffably mysterious human brain. I couldn’t stop telling people about it, while I was reading it. It will make you see your nose, your life, and your most important decisions in a whole new way.” - Maile Meloy, bestselling author of Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It

“Imagine discovering the scent of cucumber, skunk, and even your own brain. Season to Taste reminds us how much our sense of smell grounds us, is part of our identity and, without it, we are bereft of our most profound memories and desires. Molly Birnbaum’s fascinating journey, told with charm and compassion, is ultimately a story of triumph. A book for food lovers, sensualists, and all of us in search of our true heart’s desire.” - Kim Sunée, bestselling author of Trail of Crumbs

“Molly Birnbaum’s fascinating journey, told with charm and compassion, is ultimately a story of triumph. A book for food lovers, sensualists, and all of us in search of our true heart’s desire.” - Kim Sunée, bestselling author of Trail of Crumbs

“Moving and informative.” - Publishers Weekly

“Fascinating and vivid. . . . Packed with information and a great read to boot. I was smitten.” - Library Journal

“A fascinating, illuminating and heartwarming read and a revelation of how aroma is woven, in intricate and complex patterns, through the tapestry of our lives.” - Frangrance Forum

“Rich and insightful. . . . A veritable feast for the reader.” - Charlotte Observer

“After reading Birnbaum’s smart, lovely book, readers will be reminded to savor their next meal, each fragrant bite.” - Boston Globe

“Evocative.” - Daily Beast

“Molly Birnbaum writes with great curiosity and depth, reawakening in us all the sense of taste that we take for granted.” - Amanda Hesser, author of The Essential New York Times Cookbook

“When Molly Birnbaum lost her sense of smell in a brutal accident, it was a tragedy for her plans to become a chef, and yet it was a strange kind of gift, too. Deprived of one sense, Molly drew on all others, and on her memories of aroma, to become a masterful and moving writer. And we, her readers, are the ultimate beneficiaries of her great heart and her vast talent. Season to Taste is a memoir, an inquiry, a rumination, and a love story, too, delivered with a poet’s touch and a scholar’s restless intellect.” - Samuel G. Freedman, author of Letters to a Young Journalist

“Tantalizing. . . . A pilgrimage out of devastation, toward reclaiming the dream of being a chef. . . . Where [Birnbaum] ends up will surprise you, much as it did her.” - Washington Post

“A culinary-minded journalist . . . movingly depicts the nearly ineffable plight of the anosmic . . . alongside passages of sweeping journalistic discovery of all things olfactory. A brave, unflagging memoir.” - Kirkus Reviews

“Powerfully explores the science of smell and its ties to emotion, love and even memory. . . . A truly mouthwatering read.” - BookPage

“A Summer Hot Read.” - New York Post

“I had a hunch that Molly Birnbaum could tell a rich, engrossing, and deeply intelligent story, but what I didn’t know is that I would learn so much from it - about strength, about persistence, about the resilience of the human body and mind. This is a book I won’t soon forget.” - Molly Wizenberg, bestselling author of A Homemade Life

“Molly Birnbaum’s fascinating book takes her--and us--deep inside the mysterious world of scent. Her writing about this unseen force is fresh, smart, and consistently surprising. If this beautifully written book were a smell, it would be a crisp green apple.” - Claire Dederer, bestselling author of Poser

“[Birnbaum has an] insatiable curiosity, convivial voice and talent for unpacking the significance of smell.” - Minneapolis Star Tribune