Student Work

Dubrow's book Taste: A Series of Small Bites is forthcoming from Columbia University Press in August 2022. Structured as a series of “small bites,” Taste considers the ways that we ingest the world, how we come to know ourselves and others through the daily act of tasting. Through flavorful explorations of the sweet, the sour, the salty, the bitter, and umami, the book offers readers a series of interdisciplinary reflections on the sense of taste, often blending personal experience with analysis of poetry, fiction, the visual arts, as well as religious and philosophical texts. Taste is organized not so much as a linear dinner served in courses but as a meal consisting of meze, small plates of intensely flavored discourse. She notes, "I actually signed the contract [for Taste] in August of my first semester at VCFA, and then I wrote the book during my first and second semesters in the program (when Pat Madden and Bob Vivian were my advisors). Drafting Taste was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my writing career, in part because it was so nice to receive feedback from my advisors."