Imagine putting billions of dollars into creating something that tastes like nothing. When it comes to municipal water systems the world over, that's what water companies strive to provide — no bad or off flavors, no assertive minerals, just bland safety. It's a miracle, and one we shouldn't take for granted. In The Taste of Water, author Christy Spackman looks beyond the glass to ask how our water should and shouldn't taste.
Spackman, a professor at Arizona State University, is also the director of the Sensory Labor(atory), an experimental research collective dedicated to disrupting longstanding sensory hierarchies. Through her work, she became interested in why people eat what they do and how the management of taste and smell done by food scientists and engineers, shapes the experiences we often take for granted.
Christy Spackman is the director of experimental research collective the Sensory Labor(atory). Photo courtesy of University of California Press.
"The Taste of Water" explores the lengths that municipal water systems go to so they can eliminate any taste from tap water. Photo courtesy of University of California Press.