What do you think?
Rate this book
The Flavor of Wood: In Search of the Wild Taste of Trees from Smoke and Sap to Root and Bark
Most people don’t expect wood to flavor their food beyond the barbecue, if at all, and gastronomists rarely discuss the significance that wood has on ultimate taste. But trees and wood have a far greater influence over our plate and palate than you might think. So what does wood taste of? And how has it been used in cooking, distilling, fermenting, and even perfume creation to produce a unique flavor and smell?To find out the answers to these questions, food communications expert Artur Cisar-Erlach embarked on a global journey to understand how trees infuse the world’s most delectable dishes with the flavor of their wood. His flavor hunt extended into a three-year exploration covering everything from pizza, whisky, cheese, tea, and perfume to quinine, wine, maple syrup, blue yogurt, and more. From wooden barrels used to age scotch in Austria to wood-burning pizza ovens of Naples to traditional Canadian maple syrup producers, The Flavor of Wood explores how wood infuses some of our best-loved foods through its smoke, sap, roots, and bark. As his quest spans continents and cultures, Cisar-Erlach introduces readers to a colorful cast of characters including Modenese balsamic vinegar producers, Piedmontese truffle hunters, South Tyrolean winemakers, and wild mountain pine chefs. Discovering that wood flavors beverages as well, the author encounters Austrian whisky distillers, Bavarian brewers, avant-garde central London tea merchants, and Indian tea exporters.A world trip brimming with fascinating encounters, unexpected turns, beautiful landscapes, scientific discoveries, and historic connections, The Flavor of Wood is the story of a passionate flavor hunter, and offers readers unparalleled access to some of the world’s highest quality cuisine and unknown tree flavors.
- GenresNatureFoodNonfiction
256 pages, Paperback
Published February 4, 2020
7 people are currently reading
1019 people want to read
About the author
Artur Cisar-Erlach
5 books17 followersArtur Cisar-Erlach is a woodland ecologist, food communications expert, and cabinetmaker whose work spans the fields of food and ecotourism. He received his graduate degree in Food Culture and Communications at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy, and was an editor of the Slow Food International Travel handbook. He divides his time between Vienna, Austria, and Nova Scotia, Canada.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 24, 2020
Hm. This book was not what I was expecting. I guess I had zeroed in on: "how has it been used in cooking, distilling, fermenting, and even perfume creation to produce a unique flavor and smell?" without realizing it was more about actually eating wood. There were parts I enjoyed reading and other parts that seemed a bit too much like a textbook, or travelogue to me. Interesting, but not what I was expecting. The chapter where the author observed beavers (and the types of wood they prefer to eat) was my favorite! I very much appreciated the photos in the book, as they helped me feel as though I were following the author during his explorations. Honestly, this is probably a case of "It's not you. It's me!" and I apologize to the author and publisher for that.
Thanks to Abrams Press for the opportunity to read the book early and offer my opinion.
Thanks to Abrams Press for the opportunity to read the book early and offer my opinion.
May 12, 2020
I thought that this would be a book by an expert on the practice of cooking, eating, and flavouring with wood. Instead, it is a book by a passionate amateur who was first inspired by the fact that wooden barrels contribute to the flavour and aging process of wine. Why, he asks, do discussions of wine and whiskey rarely analyse the vessel, "the wooden barrel?" They do, Cisar-Erlach, they do.
The author's bizarrely naive line of questioning continues to marvel at the realisation that humans cook with wood (!), and that we imitate the savannahs from where human civilisation originated by creating spacious gardens and parks (?!). I was uneasy when Cisar-Erlach suddenly referred to himself as a "biologist" when it seemed so plainly not the case (something that a quick google search will confirm given he completed a "graduate degree" in Food Communications). But I became borderline uncomfortable as the bizarre tone of this work continued plotting its course.
It is, on the one hand, weirdly touting itself as somehow academic (the numerous and annoyingly placed, mid-sentence footnotes), as well as a rather childish and pretentious personal exercise in creative writing. To paraphrase the beginning of Chapter 1: "I flew to Nova Scotia from Austria to clear my head about this whole tree business, because...trees are calming and there are lots more of them in Nova Scotia." Here, the author observes that beavers eat and build their homes from wood. "Then it hit me – this could be the one lead I'd been looking for!" before he realises "one fatal flaw" - humans and beavers are different.
At that point I had to shut the book and give it to my 12 year old niece - hopefully they can learn something from it.
The author's bizarrely naive line of questioning continues to marvel at the realisation that humans cook with wood (!), and that we imitate the savannahs from where human civilisation originated by creating spacious gardens and parks (?!). I was uneasy when Cisar-Erlach suddenly referred to himself as a "biologist" when it seemed so plainly not the case (something that a quick google search will confirm given he completed a "graduate degree" in Food Communications). But I became borderline uncomfortable as the bizarre tone of this work continued plotting its course.
It is, on the one hand, weirdly touting itself as somehow academic (the numerous and annoyingly placed, mid-sentence footnotes), as well as a rather childish and pretentious personal exercise in creative writing. To paraphrase the beginning of Chapter 1: "I flew to Nova Scotia from Austria to clear my head about this whole tree business, because...trees are calming and there are lots more of them in Nova Scotia." Here, the author observes that beavers eat and build their homes from wood. "Then it hit me – this could be the one lead I'd been looking for!" before he realises "one fatal flaw" - humans and beavers are different.
At that point I had to shut the book and give it to my 12 year old niece - hopefully they can learn something from it.
March 17, 2020
***I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway***
The subtitle is "In Search of the Wild Taste of Trees from Smoke and Sap to Root and Bark" and that's very important. This book is almost entirely about the search and only slightly about the flavor of wood. If you're like me and you picked this up in order to learn about how wood (or, more accurately, trees) is used in cooking, or has been used historically, you're going to be disappointed. There's a little bit of that, but the book is mostly a travelogue of the author visiting cool foodie locales and talking to his very interesting friends.
Don't get me wrong, the author went to interesting places and met with interesting people and wrote about it in a flowing, almost poetic way. His passion for his topic comes through and can be a delight. I just didn't care most of the time and that probably comes from what I wanted out of this book.
The subtitle is "In Search of the Wild Taste of Trees from Smoke and Sap to Root and Bark" and that's very important. This book is almost entirely about the search and only slightly about the flavor of wood. If you're like me and you picked this up in order to learn about how wood (or, more accurately, trees) is used in cooking, or has been used historically, you're going to be disappointed. There's a little bit of that, but the book is mostly a travelogue of the author visiting cool foodie locales and talking to his very interesting friends.
Don't get me wrong, the author went to interesting places and met with interesting people and wrote about it in a flowing, almost poetic way. His passion for his topic comes through and can be a delight. I just didn't care most of the time and that probably comes from what I wanted out of this book.
November 17, 2019
When I first received a copy of Artur Cisar-Erlach's The Flavor of Wood in the mail I wasn't really sure what to expect -- I mean, I was familiar with the idea that some alcohols are aged in wooden barrels and that, the (in my mind) quintessentially Canadian maple syrup comes from trees, but I was unsure what could or would come next? Was there even enough subject matter to warrant an entire book? What I would come to discover that through this book I would feel inspired to look at this “ingredient” differently.
At first, it seemed like I knew very little about trees, so I focused on how Cisar-Erlach became inspired to study this subject. It was walking through the woods one day that Cisar-Erlach noticed that beavers only choose certain woods to construct their dams out of and it was then he realized that this must have something to do with the flavors of different trees. He jokingly points out: "They basically chew trees for a living -- and, judging from some pictures, can even get quite fat off them."(18) And, it was with this epiphany that Cisar-Erlach continues his gastronomic quest to discover and define what wood actually tastes like and what foods are influenced by wood.
The Flavor of Wood is an enthralling journey -- part travelogue, part scientific quest -- Cisar-Erlach ventures to different parts of the world -- Africa, Canada, Europe, India (to name a few) to research the culinary ways in which wood is used (for example: in brewing, distilling, fermenting, smoking, etc.). His enthusiasm really shows: whether he's hunting down artwork or devising ways in which the flavor of wood can influence craft beer making. As I began reading, I realized I knew more about how wood can flavor food than I thought! Take Neapolitan pizza for example, I know that the pizzas I enjoy at Piatto Pizzeria are different than any other pizza that I can buy in Atlantic Canada simple due to the fact that this pizzeria has a VPN-certification (meaning that the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana has deemed that the ingredients and techniques used are authentic to the way true Neapolitan pizza is made -- this includes how the pizza is cooked. In a 900F wood-fired oven, which is where the flavor of wood comes in). Cisar-Erlach dedicates an entire chapter to his research of Neapolitan Pizza. Thinking along these lines, I began to think about Montreal-style bagels that are also baked in a wood-fired oven (they taste incredible -- like no other bagel!).
Throughout The Flavor of Wood, Cisar-Erlach really shows how vast this topic stretches -- one of my favourite chapters examines the use of wood ash in the preservation of milk. The people living in West Pokot (in the western part of Kenya) developed a way to preserve milk past the dry season through the addition of ash from a tree in that region. The milk/ash mixture is a blueish colour and looks almost like a kind of kefir in the picture. Completely fascinating! Speaking of drinking wood, did you know that tea is actually grown on a tree? I had no idea until I read about it in the book! Although his research takes him all over the globe, parts of his journey bring him to Canada -- specifically Nova Scotia where he studies maple syrup production at one the province's popular maple syrup farms -- Sugar Moon Farm.
What I realized by the end of The Flavor of Wood is that Cisar-Erlach is the kind of person who will taste just about anything in his quest in trying to pin down precisely what the flavor of wood is (for example: tree samples in order to get into the beaver mindset or gherkins pickled with cherry or walnut leaves in order to understand the leaf's effect on the texture/flavour of the pickle). I admire his drive to create a hypothesis and then experiment to find the answer to that mysterious question: what the flavor of wood is. Finally, to share his findings with his friends Cisar-Erlach hosts a party where he serves food and drink related to his book. In all honesty, I would have loved a recipe or two included but maybe they're being saved for a future book. The Flavor of Wood gave me a great opportunity to turn my focus away from home cooking for a bit. I really appreciated how passionately Cisar-Erlach presents his research and findings. The Flavor of Wood is a book I highly recommend.
Please note that this is an excerpt of a review posted to www.shipshapeeatworthy.wordpress.com
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Manda Books and Abrams Books for providing me with a free advanced of this book. I did not receive monetary compensation for my post, and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
At first, it seemed like I knew very little about trees, so I focused on how Cisar-Erlach became inspired to study this subject. It was walking through the woods one day that Cisar-Erlach noticed that beavers only choose certain woods to construct their dams out of and it was then he realized that this must have something to do with the flavors of different trees. He jokingly points out: "They basically chew trees for a living -- and, judging from some pictures, can even get quite fat off them."(18) And, it was with this epiphany that Cisar-Erlach continues his gastronomic quest to discover and define what wood actually tastes like and what foods are influenced by wood.
The Flavor of Wood is an enthralling journey -- part travelogue, part scientific quest -- Cisar-Erlach ventures to different parts of the world -- Africa, Canada, Europe, India (to name a few) to research the culinary ways in which wood is used (for example: in brewing, distilling, fermenting, smoking, etc.). His enthusiasm really shows: whether he's hunting down artwork or devising ways in which the flavor of wood can influence craft beer making. As I began reading, I realized I knew more about how wood can flavor food than I thought! Take Neapolitan pizza for example, I know that the pizzas I enjoy at Piatto Pizzeria are different than any other pizza that I can buy in Atlantic Canada simple due to the fact that this pizzeria has a VPN-certification (meaning that the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana has deemed that the ingredients and techniques used are authentic to the way true Neapolitan pizza is made -- this includes how the pizza is cooked. In a 900F wood-fired oven, which is where the flavor of wood comes in). Cisar-Erlach dedicates an entire chapter to his research of Neapolitan Pizza. Thinking along these lines, I began to think about Montreal-style bagels that are also baked in a wood-fired oven (they taste incredible -- like no other bagel!).
Throughout The Flavor of Wood, Cisar-Erlach really shows how vast this topic stretches -- one of my favourite chapters examines the use of wood ash in the preservation of milk. The people living in West Pokot (in the western part of Kenya) developed a way to preserve milk past the dry season through the addition of ash from a tree in that region. The milk/ash mixture is a blueish colour and looks almost like a kind of kefir in the picture. Completely fascinating! Speaking of drinking wood, did you know that tea is actually grown on a tree? I had no idea until I read about it in the book! Although his research takes him all over the globe, parts of his journey bring him to Canada -- specifically Nova Scotia where he studies maple syrup production at one the province's popular maple syrup farms -- Sugar Moon Farm.
What I realized by the end of The Flavor of Wood is that Cisar-Erlach is the kind of person who will taste just about anything in his quest in trying to pin down precisely what the flavor of wood is (for example: tree samples in order to get into the beaver mindset or gherkins pickled with cherry or walnut leaves in order to understand the leaf's effect on the texture/flavour of the pickle). I admire his drive to create a hypothesis and then experiment to find the answer to that mysterious question: what the flavor of wood is. Finally, to share his findings with his friends Cisar-Erlach hosts a party where he serves food and drink related to his book. In all honesty, I would have loved a recipe or two included but maybe they're being saved for a future book. The Flavor of Wood gave me a great opportunity to turn my focus away from home cooking for a bit. I really appreciated how passionately Cisar-Erlach presents his research and findings. The Flavor of Wood is a book I highly recommend.
Please note that this is an excerpt of a review posted to www.shipshapeeatworthy.wordpress.com
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Manda Books and Abrams Books for providing me with a free advanced of this book. I did not receive monetary compensation for my post, and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
November 10, 2020
I entered to win this because I was sure my son would love it. He's a bit of a foodie, works in the National Parks, and this hit the spot.
It did, he likes it, took it off to college with him.
Between receiving it and giving it to my son, my ADD senses thrilled, thumbing through the nice pictures and laughing.
Did it give me ideas? Yes.
Did it answer some questions...well, it led me down a path.
I really enjoyed it and look forward to Thanksgiving, when I will eventually find the book, retrieve it and read it should I wake from the food coma.
Maybe we'll have a chance to discuss it and I'll have more to share with you later.
Having read 6 John McPhee novels (including "Oranges"), some in my bookshelf when they became required reading for my son's Ecology studies, I can tell you that starting with a single theme and carrying it through permutations is fascinating.
It did, he likes it, took it off to college with him.
Between receiving it and giving it to my son, my ADD senses thrilled, thumbing through the nice pictures and laughing.
Did it give me ideas? Yes.
Did it answer some questions...well, it led me down a path.
I really enjoyed it and look forward to Thanksgiving, when I will eventually find the book, retrieve it and read it should I wake from the food coma.
Maybe we'll have a chance to discuss it and I'll have more to share with you later.
Having read 6 John McPhee novels (including "Oranges"), some in my bookshelf when they became required reading for my son's Ecology studies, I can tell you that starting with a single theme and carrying it through permutations is fascinating.
June 9, 2022
Captured my attention. This book got some criticism for being more of a travelogue than a cookbook, but I don’t understand the complaint. I enjoyed picturing the author going around to different countries in search for the elusive, essential flavor of wood itself. It was not trying to be some exhaustive treatise or culinary history of every instance in the world where a community ate wood or some type of wood product. I could kind of relate to the author from the standpoint of getting obsessed with something that others may regard as slightly trivial, boring, or offbeat. But to heck with them! He wanted to know what wood tasted like and went to considerable effort and expense to travel and eat and interview people who cook with wood. I got into it. Wish I could taste some of the dishes he came up with.
May 29, 2019
Surprising, fascinating, amusing - a great journey.
An ever surprising journey on the search of the taste of wood. Vividly told Artur Cisar-Erlach takes the reader with him on a worldwide trip, where he explores the influence of wood on food products. He goes beyond well known uses by questioning and experimenting. Besides scientific facts he captures the scenic settings of production and branches those by amazing stories about the people behind. So you not only discover traditional as well as new ways of the use of wood but also read about the history of food production and refinement, about geographical specialities and inspiring stories of producers.
Even though beeing educated in food I was delightened by all the new facts I discovered and amused by the events happening during Artur's journey. I fully enjoyed reading the book and learning from it. At the end I was looking for a "to be continued".
An ever surprising journey on the search of the taste of wood. Vividly told Artur Cisar-Erlach takes the reader with him on a worldwide trip, where he explores the influence of wood on food products. He goes beyond well known uses by questioning and experimenting. Besides scientific facts he captures the scenic settings of production and branches those by amazing stories about the people behind. So you not only discover traditional as well as new ways of the use of wood but also read about the history of food production and refinement, about geographical specialities and inspiring stories of producers.
Even though beeing educated in food I was delightened by all the new facts I discovered and amused by the events happening during Artur's journey. I fully enjoyed reading the book and learning from it. At the end I was looking for a "to be continued".
September 14, 2021
I'm normally not a fan of foodie books but this one is completely different! The author is a story-teller at heart and he integrates tons of information about the flavours of wood as part of a surrounding story in each chapter. I'm a real fan of cheese and sugar maple which is what drew me to this book in the first place. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that more than a few really familiar places played a central role in these stories: Schneider & Sohn in Kelheim, the sausage kitchen and stone bridge in Regensburg, several mountain-side towns spread through South Tyrolia, the sugarbush near Tatamagouche in Nova Scotia, ... Great book!
July 11, 2019
An interesting read that has me thinking differently about food, wood and their sometimes underappreciated nexus. A mix of travelogue and experimentation suffused with an essence that will have you searching for wood infused flavor and the place specific qualities of terroir.
June 7, 2020
Interesting book that explores the role of wood in flavoring food. Part diary, part travelogue, part culinary commentary I found myself highlighting places to visit and foods to try. Fun.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews