Molly Birnbaum | Granta

Molly Birnbaum

Molly Birnbaum is a recipient of the Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship in Arts and Culture from Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. Her work has appeared in the New York Times and ARTnews magazine, and writes the popular food blog Molly’s Madeleine. This is her first book.

Publications

Season to Taste

Molly Birnbaum

When an accident obliterated Molly Birnbaum’s sense of smell, it also destroyed her dream of becoming a chef, and sent her instead upon a brave and uncertain mission to reawaken her nose. Writing with emotional honesty, intellectual curiosity, and a foodie’s feel for descriptive precision, she explores the science of olfaction and pheromones, ponders Proust’s madeleine and her own scent memory, and quizzes psychologists, perfumiers, and ice-cream inventors, all in an effort to overcome her condition. From cinnamon and cedarwood to bacon and her boyfriend’s shirt, we follow Molly as she gradually rediscovers the scented world and captures in apt, piquant words the rich layer of life that tends to be wordless.