Food styling by Chelsea Zimmer; prop styling by Christine Keely
SEPTEMBER 2019 69 SHAPE.COM
“Forming an understand-
ing of how flavors work
together is like learning
a language,” says Niki
Segnit, the author of The
Flavor Thesaurus and the
new book Lateral Cooking.
“It allows you to express
yourself freely, to impro-
vise, and to cook a dish the
way you’d like to.”
The process begins with
the ingredients, she says.
It’s about experimenting,
playing around, and dis-
covering what foods com-
plement one another, then
preparing them in a way
that brings out their best
notes and balances the
salt, sweet, sour, fat, and
umami elements. “Once
the balance of a dish is
right, the flavors can really
shine,” Segnit says.
(Continued on page 70)flavor
By Laura Rege