A Smart Book on Taste: John McQuaid's Tasty

There’s a commonly held belief—espoused in high school biology classes and wine-tasting seminars—that different parts of the tongue hold particular types of taste receptors. Sweet’s in front, bitter’s in back, sour and salty sit in between. That concept turns out to be completely false, writes John McQuaid in his new book, Tasty: The Art and Science of What We Eat. In reality, the receptors on our tongues are spread around more or less evenly.

McQuaid’s latest falls squarely in the “Why X Explains the World” popular-science genre. The human sense of taste, McQuaid argues, has largely determined who we are today: a restless, curious, clannish species that has the run of the planet, suffers from high rates of obesity and diabetes, and groups itself according to our individual mealtime preferences. (My mother, who grew up eating daily doses of kimchee in Korea, was horrified the first time she encountered cheese.)