The Chef Who Lost Her Sense of Smell

I picked up the July issue of BookPage at my local library yesterday and was immediately drawn to Molly Birnbaum's story. I had to read more about her. Molly was born and raised in Boston and attended Brown University where she studied the History of Art and Architecture. She worked as a writer and her work has appeared in The New York Times, ARTnews magazine, the New York Post, USA Today, the Point Reyes Light newspaper, and The Brown Alumni Magazine.

Then she became interested in cooking and was accepted and slated to begin studying at the Culinary Institute of America. She worked in a restaurant doing grunt work in preparation for her new career. That was until one fateful day in August 2005, when she was struck by a car while jogging. Among the most devastating of her injuries was her loss of her sense of smell, or anosmia. I LOVE to cook and can't imagine not being able to smell the delicious fruits of my labor.

 It's taken a long time, but she is regaining her sense of smell one scent at a time. She chronicles her recovery in her memoir, Season of Taste: how I lost my sense of smell and found my way.


Her blog, my madeleine is fantastic. It's filled with delicious-sounding recipes and also chronicles her journey.


Happy reading,
Angela