The Taste of Water : Sensory Perception and the Making of an Industrialized Beverage.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Spackman, Christy.

Series:

Critical Environments: Nature, Science, and Politics Series

Critical Environments: Nature, Science, and Politics Series ; v.15

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (307 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, 2023.

Summary:

Have you ever wondered why your tap water tastes the way it does? The Taste of Water explores the increasing erasure of tastes from drinking water over the twentieth century. It asks how dramatic changes in municipal water treatment have altered consumers' awareness of the environment their water comes from. Through examining the development of sensory expertise in the United States and France, this unique history uncovers the foundational role of palatability in shaping Western water treatment processes. By focusing on the relationship between taste and the environment, Christy Spackman shows how efforts to erase unwanted tastes and smells have transformed water into a highly industrialized food product divorced from its origins. The Taste of Water invites readers to question their own assumptions about what water does and should naturally taste like while exposing them to the invisible--but substantial--sensory labor involved in creating tap water.

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

List of Abbreviations

Introduction

1. Industrial Terroir

2. Making Flavor Molecular

3. Future Sensing Bodies

4. Theaters of Taste from the Boardroom to the Street

5. Erasing Place: Industrial Terroir in the Twenty-First Century

Conclusion: Flavor Stories

Notes

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780520393561

0520393562

OCLC:

1410593829