The Flavor Thesaurus: A Compendium of Pairings, Recipes and Ideas for the Creative Cook

This book wasn't at all what I expected, but after I accepted it for what it is I really began to enjoy it.What I Didn't LikeAnother reviewer found it to be like a dictionary in its definitions and details. I found it not at all like that. In fact, it is entirely subjective even by the author's own attestation. The "color wheel" of flavors I found to be useless. The copy without a seam from the binding is not even in color. Furthermore, the typeface on that copy is so small as to be unreadable for me without a magnifying glass. Aesthetics aside, the flavor wheel seems primarily presented to demonstrate that the author can cleverly devise a circular table of food flavors. There is nothing stemming from the wheel that will help you determine which flavors go together. It's not anything like an artist's color wheel, with those associated concepts.What I Came To EnjoyThe author's rather creative idea was to compile a list of 99 foods and/or food types. The and/or is because some of the 99 are extremely well defined, such as "Lemon", while others are very general, such as "Hard Cheese". Regardless, those are how the author sees the universe of food, and as she says, it is her point of view from which she is writing.Having defined the 99 foods, she set about to locate examples of each one occurring with the other 98. To this end she seems to have spent a rather inordinate amount of time in London pubs, but there are examples from other places and even from other countries. She wasn't able to locate an example for every pair, which is not surprising, although I suppose pubs are where you might find people who would try anything once so that particular bias is explained.The sparkling thing about the book is the way in which she writes about the combinations, and the side stories that evolve from the descriptions. A description of a pair of foods might devolve into an almost totally irrelevant discussion of the old days in London pubs, or an explanation for why monks don't eat certain foods. There is some sharp, dry British humor at times, as well. It's that kind where the face is so straight that you know the speaker is either joking or insane, and either way is hysterically funny.The content and quality of what was written in the book wooed me from my attitude of bitter disappointment over what I didn't find written there. I now very much enjoy reading this book. I just don't expect it to help me choose complementary "colors" of food.I must add that the book is very well indexed. Even a stray mention of something not on her list of 99 foods, appearing in one of her side excursions, appears in the index. I very much appreciate not having to try to remember from which of the 99 foods the tangent arose, which referenced something I want to look up again.

Given the book's premise, I was taken aback by Segnit's conversational tone and willingness to eschew hard and fast organization. After having lived with the book for some time however, I'm convinced this is a truly great way to tackle the an impossibly broad subject. While scientific reasoning is occasionally provided, overwhelmingly The Flavor Thesaurus looks at the world of food subjectively through the author's eyes. And of course it does. There is little about food that is not subjective. The magic part is how, through endless suggestions and recommendations, the reader begins to make their own connections and discover new ideas based on their own experience with food.This is now my go to gift friends/family who are passionate cooks.

Can I give six stars? Ten?This is one of the smartest, loveliest, most informative, well-written, funny books I've ever had the pleasure of reading. That it refers to my love of cooking, also from an amateur perspective, makes it all the more special. No, it's not a cook book, but every so often a recipe shows up (pasta with onion and anchovies, with a reference to my soul's home, Venice) knocks this book out of the ballpark. Brava, Niki Segnit! (Who I don't personally know...)

I'm sold on this now, but it's taken me a bit of time to really get into this book. Sometimes the information associated with a pairing doesn't speak to me at all - I don't get it. But most of the time I learn from it - I think its making me a better baker - its introduced me to nuances of flavor and pairings that I wouldn't normally have considered. Definitely makes me think outside the box. There are quite a few recipes in there that are fantastic (although the recipes are bare minimal in instruction and definitely not for beginners or the non-adventurous). Would recommend for foodies or bakers who want something unexpected and are tired of the same old cooking-baking books. This is a keeper for me....I can't imagine I'll ever get bored with it or learn everything in it, which is fantastic!

I am an accomplished, passionate cook with some professional experience later in life. I like to cook from my senses, rather than following recipes, finding them to be constricting. The greatest joy in cooking for me is putting things together in a unique way - (a friend once told me that I literally dance in the kitchen.) Although I have an extensive cookbook collection, it is books like this one that I usually reach for - they allow for maximum creativity.

A very good gateway deviate from following recipes into developing your own recipes.

This book combines information about every combination of the foods that have been chosen - those most common - in surprising ways, and does this with a flourish, and some brief recipes. If you like food and want something that has both ideas and stories, this is a wonderful book; easy to pick up for moments between bigger tasks. Informative and charming.

What a lovely book! For foodies, it helps you wrap your head around flavor pairings in a whole new way. Don't expect a cookbook, it's not. It's a wonderful journey of flavors and opinions. I love to just open it up to any given page and read. The author is so funny and engaging. A friend showed it to me, and I've already shared with three of my foodie friends. This makes a great gift. Put it in your stocking this Christmas!