Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
1. The Evolution of Cooking (2 Million–12,000 Years Ago)
2. The Dawn of Agriculture Revolutionizes Cooking (12,000 Years Ago–1499)
3. Early Science Inspires Creativity in Cooking (1500–1799)
4. The Art of Cooking Embraces the Science of Atoms (1800–1900)
5. Modern Science Transforms the Art of Cooking (1901–Present)
6. Cooking Science Catches Fire!
7. The Good, the Bad, and the Future of Cooking Science
Bibliography
Index

About the Author

Guy Crosby, PhD, CFS, is adjunct associate professor of nutrition at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. He is the science editor for Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street and was the science editor for America’s Test Kitchen. He is coauthor of New York Times best-seller The Science of Good Cooking (2012) and Cook’s Science (2016).

Reviews

As a foodie myself I was delighted to see all suspicions confirmed in Cook, Taste, Learn—that advances in the culinary arts are commonly empowered by curious scientists who also happen to be hungry.
*Neil deGrasse Tyson, American Museum of Natural History*

Cook, Taste, Learn entertains with a smorgasbord of curious facts, delightful explanations, and fun recipes. What is so special about olive oil? Why use one kind of potato for baking and another for boiling? How does one make scrambled eggs fluffy? Crosby’s history of cooking provides a riveting education for your inner chef.
*Richard Wrangham, author of Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human*

Cook, Taste, Learn elegantly intertwines history, chemistry, anthropology, and culinary science to create a captivating guided tour through the arc of human invention. The general scientific advancements feel just as vital to our enjoyment of good food as the evolution of cooking science. An accessible and inspiring contribution to the history of science!
*Ali Bouzari, author of Ingredient: Unveiling the Essential Elements of Food*

Crosby is a longtime collaborator, my science expert-in-chief, who has answered every food science question I have ever had. . . . The genius of his Cook, Taste, Learn is that he pairs useful science with the history of cooking. This makes for a digestible work that [is] punctuated by useful deep dives into boiling in water versus cooking in oil, the science of gels, why terroir matters when cooking beans (the calcium content varies wildly), and how atomic theory changed the understanding of cooking. In Cook, Taste, Learn, you can have your cake and understand its chemistry too.
*Milk Street Magazine*

If you are chemist who is whizz in the lab but not so great in the kitchen, this might just be the perfect thing for you!
*Chemistry World*

A sprightly delight.
*Nature*

Reveals the possibilities for transforming cooking from a craft into the perfect blend of art and science.
*Food Technology*

If you’re interested in the science of food and cooking and its history, this is a great book to read.
*Food Crumbles*

A well-developed volume with a strong foundation in science.
*Choice*