Tasting Club: Gathering Together to Share and Savor Your Favorite Tastes

by Dina Cheney

An entertaining guide to planning and hosting a tasting party explains how to come up with a theme for an event in which participants enjoy a search for the best wine, cheese, and other food or beverage, accompanied by place-card suggestions, a guide to international brands and sources, and tasting-and-reference cards.

Genres: Food, Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2010

About the author

I'm the author of THE NEW MILKS; 100-PLUS DAIRY-FREE RECIPES FOR MAKING AND COOKING WITH SOY, NUT, SEED, GRAIN, AND COCONUT MILKS (Atria/Simon & Schuster, 2016) and the creator of the dairy-free resource site, www.thenewmilks.com. I also wrote Mug Meals, Meatless All Day, Year-Round Slow Cooker, Williams-Sonoma New Flavors for Salads, and Tasting Club.

In addition to writing books, I have contributed text or recipes to Every Day with Rachael Ray, Parents, Fine Cooking, Coastal Living, Specialty Food, Cooking Light, The Huffington Post, Food52, and more.

With a background in visual arts, I photograph food; paint still lifes of produce and flowers; and teach cooking at schools such as The Institute of Culinary Education and The Natural Gourmet Institute.

About 200 media outlets have covered my work. Just a few include Redbook, Real Simple, Every Day with Rachael Ray, The New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, New York Post, "Fox" News in Boston and New York, NBC News, NPR, and Wisconsin Public Radio.

Before embarking on my career in writing and teaching, I graduated from Columbia College, Columbia University (Anthropology/English Literature) and the Institute of Culinary Education Career program. I studied art at the Rhode Island School of Design and The Yellow Barn Studio and Gallery.

Follow me on Instagram (@thenewmilks), Facebook (dinacheney), and Twitter (DinaCheney).

Reviews

[Diane]

I really enjoyed this. But it is no longer available at my library.

[Rachel]

Each section (highlighting a different food or drink) had an overview of the traditions, processing, and preparations associated with each set of items. I like that the book lists several websites to order food from; however, I did feel that the information provided was very general. Very often, instead of giving specifics, readers were instructed to visit a local specialty store and ask the experts there (which, of course, isn't a viable option in many locations). That said the menus and ideas for tastings look reasonable, and I think it would be interesting to try a few of them out.

[Karon [KC]]

Beautifully presented and infectious reading with brilliant pairings as well as informative foodie facts and helpful information. An erotic tasting book that would work well into a TV program format as a highlight or separate special episodes.

[LINDA]

It's full of delicious ideas that will inspire you to host a 'tasting' party!

[Joelen]

This book is the basis of one of the food events I host for my cooking group. We'll be using the book as a guide and branching out to other foods to deep taste.

[Stephanie]

I used this book as a guide to help me host a chocolate tasting party. I love the premise and the party was a success! There are also tips for wine, cheese, and olive oil tastings.

[Donna]

This isn't really a cookbook, but a guide to refining your taste by hosting "tasting events" with friends --well written and fun to read.

[Andrew]

great practical book for having a tasting party - limited use, but if you think doing a tasting is the best way to learn more about a food - then use this book.

[Karen Ballum]

I think I like the idea of a tasting club more than I'd like the reality of it. And I think I'd rather do more pedestrian tastings -- stuff we buy on a regular basis such as peanut butter.