Meet Arielle Johnson—she’s a flavor scientist (she loves flavor so much, she got a Ph.D. in the subject). She spends most of her time helping chefs better understand what’s going on beneath the hood of flavor and make delicious new foods. Now, with Flavorama, she shares this invaluable knowledge with home cooks everywhere. Mixing equal parts fun and braininess, Arielle dives into how chemistry, sensation, and craft unite to create flavor, distilling what flavor really is (molecules!) and how to get it to work for you (spotting patterns, breaking rules) in an easy-to-digest handbook.

You don’t need a lab or a professional kitchen—or even a background in science—to get something out of the science of flavor. With Flavorama, you’ll be able to easily finesse flavor while cooking to give any dish a little oomph, easily swap out an ingredient for one you have on hand, use a recipe or technique to improvise something new, or boldly replicate a flavor. Out of basil for pesto? Pivot and use mint, shiso, or tarragon—all are members of the same “herbal-aromatic” flavor family—for a new-but-somehow-familiar herb sauce. Or add a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of flaky salt to chocolate ice cream— a simple hack for deliciously complex flavor.