A classic book about the pleasures of wine by the editor of The Oxford Companion to Wine Even the French admit that Jancis Robinson is the "undisputed mistress of the kingdom of wine" (Le Figaro) and her is vintage memoir of a life in wine. Internationally renowned for her work in both television and print, she is the editor of the bestselling Oxford Companion to Wine and has won more than two dozen major awards around the world. Tasting Pleasure is her compelling account of a passion that began while studying at Oxford University.Writing with Julia Child's authority, Elizabeth David's intelligence, and M.F.K. Fisher's verve, Robinson takes us on a journey through the world's finest cellars, most beautiful vineyards, and best restaurants. As she explores the universe of the grape--from Bordeaux to Australia and South Africa to California--we meet scores of colorful, wine-loving characters, including Philippe de Rothschild, Julian Barnes, Francis Ford Coppola, and Julio Gallo.There are many books about producing and rating wine; this one is about enjoying it. Witty, revealing, and knowledgeable, in Tasting Pleasure Jancis Robinson has distilled twenty years in the wine world into a hugely entertaining read.

There's more than one kind of pleasure, and Alicia is eager to learn them all. Finding herself divorced, without a job and in a foreign country, Alicia decides to open her own business as a personal chef specializing in American-style food. Little does she know that her first important client, famed photographer Maverick Devonshire, will become far more than just her employer. Unable to resist his commanding manner, she follows him into his playroom. Once there, she discovers true empowerment and gains the confidence to become not only a successful businesswoman but also a true submissive. Learning quickly from the consequences administered by Mr. Devonshire and his associates, Alicia finds out that her clients are not the only ones who are Tasting Pleasure.

Savor the seduction... The lush mountains of Brazil provide a stunning location for a business trip – or a wild, unexpected romance. International real estate agent Nicole Parks isn't expecting the latter, but she's quickly falling under the spell of incredibly handsome French vintner Destin Dechamps. The man is as delicious as the fine blends he creates. Yet he's out to sabotage the deal that will guarantee her a promotion and the adoption she's been longing for. Destin lost both his wife and his career when his family winery burned down. Gradually he's found meaning in a new plan – defy his father, keep the land and rebuild. He can't afford to fantasize about a gorgeous Realtor who's been hired to interrupt his scheme – even unknowingly. When a rainstorm traps them together, attraction spills over into intoxicating pleasure. With both their dreams in the balance, is there room for a sweet, intense fling to deepen into love?

In his new book, Gordon M. Shepherd expands on the startling discovery that the brain creates the taste of wine. This approach to understanding wine's sensory experience draws on findings in neuroscience, biomechanics, human physiology, and traditional enology. Shepherd shows, just as he did in Neurogastronomy: How the Brain Creates Flavor and Why It Matters, that creating the taste of wine engages more of the brain than does any other human behavior. He clearly illustrates the scientific underpinnings of this process, along the way enhancing our enjoyment of wine. Neuroenology is the first book on wine tasting by a neuroscientist. It begins with the movements of wine through the mouth and then consults recent research to explain the function of retronasal smell and its extraordinary power in creating wine taste. Shepherd comprehensively explains how the specific sensory pathways in the cerebral cortex create the memory of wine and how language is used to identify and imprint wine characteristics. Intended for a broad audience of readers—from amateur wine drinkers to sommeliers, from casual foodies to seasoned chefs—Neuroenology shows how the emotion of pleasure is the final judge of the wine experience. It includes practical tips for a scientifically informed wine tasting and closes with a delightful account of Shepherd's experience tasting classic Bordeaux vintages with French winemaker Jean-Claude Berrouet of the Chateau Petrus and Dominus Estate.

For many, the word 'pleasure' conjures associations with hedonism, indulgence, and escape from the life of the mind. However little we talk about it, though, pleasure also plays an integral role in cognitive life, in both our sensory perception of the world and our intellectual understanding. This previously important but now neglected philosophical understanding of pleasure is the focus of the essays in this volume, which challenges received views that pleasure is principally motivating of action, unanalyzable, and caused, rather than responsive to reason. Like other books in the Oxford Philosophical Concepts series, it traces the development of the focal idea from ancient times through the 20th century. The essays highlight points of departure for new lines of inquiry rather than attempting to provide a full picture of how the idea of pleasure has been explored in philosophy. The volume begins by showing how Plato, Aristotle, early Islamic philosophers, and philosophers in the Medieval Latin tradition, such as Aquinas, honed in on the challenge of unifying the variety of pleasures so that they fall under one concept. In the early modern period, philosophers shifted from understanding the logic of pleasure to treating pleasure as a mental state. As the studies of Malebranche, Berkeley and Kant show, the central problem becomes understanding the relation of pleasure to other sensory experiences, and the role of pleasure in human cognition and knowledge. Short interdisciplinary reflections interspersed between essays focus on art of 16th and 17th century textbooks and the difficult music of composers like Bach, which demonstrate translation of these concerns to cultural production in the period. As the essay on Mill shows, the 19th century development of scientific psychology narrowed the definition of pleasure, and so its philosophical focus. Contemporary accounts of pleasure, however, in both philosophy and psychology, are now recognizing the limitations of this narrow focus, and are once again recognizing the complexity of pleasure and its role in human life.

"The science of taste and how to improve your sense of taste so that you get the most out of every bite"--

A delightful cookbook of decadent sweets and homemade treats that taste great, look beautiful, and have good health in mind. This enticing collection features easy recipes, made from high-quality, nutritious ingredients, for fabulous desserts that are gluten-free, dairy-free, and refined-sugar-free. With this inspiring book, award-winning Finnish author Virpi Mikkonen shows how easy it is to make sweet treats a truly enjoyable—and guilt-free—pleasure. It’s a Pleasure: Sweet Treats without Gluten, Dairy, and Refined Sugar is a gorgeous guide to making delicious and wholesome desserts at home without sacrificing flavor. Featuring candies, cakes, pies, and more, the appealing recipes—such as gingerbread chocolate, cookie ice cream with salty peanuts, and cardamom-vanilla donuts—offer great-tasting, guilt-free pleasure and are suited for entertaining, gift giving, or everyday snacking. Find inspiration for chocolate and candies, cakes and pies, ice creams and sorbets, jams, frostings and more! Recipes include: sea salt toffee bites; vanilla stars with chocolate hearts; frosty banana cake; blueberry cream cake; mango-melon sorbet cake; tiramisu ice cream cake; fig fudge; and licorice truffles.

'If we could all live and eat a little more like Tom the world and the food chain would be in much better shape.' Anna Jones 'This book is like a hybrid of Michael Pollan and Anna Jones. It combines serious food politics with flavour-packed modern recipes. This is a call-to-arms for a different way of eating which seeks to lead us there not through lectures but through a love of food, in all its vibrancy and variety.' Bee Wilson Tom's mission is to teach a way of eating that prioritises the environment without sacrificing pleasure, taste and nutrition. Tom's manifesto, 'Root to Fruit' demonstrates how we can all become part of the solution, supporting a delicious, biodiverse and regenerative food system, giving us the skills and knowledge to shop, eat and cook sustainably, whilst eating healthier, better-tasting food for no extra cost.

Tasting Difference examines early modern discourses of racial, cultural, and religious difference that emerged in the wake of contact with foreign peoples and foreign foods from across the globe. Gitanjali Shahani reimagines the contact zone between Western Europe and the global South in culinary terms, emphasizing the gut rather than the gaze in colonial encounters. From household manuals that instructed English housewives how to use newly imported foodstuffs to "the spicèd Indian air" of A Midsummer Night's Dream, from the repurposing of Othello as an early modern pitchman for coffee in ballads to the performance of disgust in travel narratives, Shahani shows how early modern genres negotiated the allure and danger of foreign tastes. Turning maxims such as "We are what we eat" on their head, Shahani asks how did we (the colonized subjects) become what you (the colonizing subjects) eat? How did we become alternately the object of fear and appetite, loathing and craving? Shahani takes us back several centuries to the process by which food came to be inscribed with racial character and the racial other came to be marked as edible, showing how the racializing of food began in an era well before chicken tikka masala and Balti cuisine. Bringing into conversation critical paradigms in early modern studies, food studies, and postcolonial studies, she argues that it is in the writing on food and eating that we see among the earliest configurations of racial difference, and it is experienced both as a different taste and as a taste of difference.

One of the most respected professionals in the wine industry-Ron Jackson, author of Wine Science (now in its second edition)- covers all practical and theoretical aspects of wine tasting in his new book. It details the basic techniques used by professionals to sense all visual, gustatory, and olfactory wine properties (sight, taste, and smell). It also describes the physiologic, psychologic, and physicochemical origins of sensory perception and discusses wine types to illustrate the characteristic features that distinguish the majority of wines. A large portion of the book is dedicated to the practical concerns of preparing and performing wine assessments. Readers are instructed in how to differentiate between the various types of wine tastings (each requiring its own design, tasting sheets, training, skill measurement, and analysis). Included is a general overview of the types and sources of wine quality and how wine is most appropriately paired with food. Special features include a flow chart of wine tasting steps, details of errors to avoid, procedures for training and testing sensory skills, sample tasting sheets, original data from 14+ years of training tasters, and numerous tables, charts, and figures. Modern treatment of all relevant data relative to wine tasting, both professional and personal Separates the practical and more technical and theoretical aspects of wine tasting, allowing easy access to people of different interests Stresses the explanation and significance of each step in the tasting process, as well as errors to be avoided Outlines procedure in the training and testing of sensory skill (professional and personal) Presents sample tastings designed to teach tasters specific varietal, regional and stylistic types of wines Provides examples of tasting results and means for analysis Discusses the evolution of cuisine and wines association with food Outlines the diversity of wines and the sensory experiences expected with each Outlines the nature and origins of wine quality Illustrative Material: Flow Chart of Wine Tasting Steps Examples of Tasting Sheets: Hedonic (hierarchy and numerical ranking), Wine Appreciation (blank and complete examples), Quality assessment (general, sparkling, artistic ranking), Sensory Analysis (quality and aroma specific) Fragrance Chart (with colored icons) Off-odor Chart (with colored icons) Color transparency representing standardized wine color terms Color illustrations representing the appearance of wines of different ages Warming-cooling chart for bottles of wine (air and ice water) Table of aroma descriptors for the major grape varieties (red and white) Chart of the warming rate of wine in a glass Figure showing the influence of alcohol content on 'tears' formation Taster variability to the major tastant and odorants in wine