In Pursuit of Flavor follows Ashwin Muthiah, a gentle-soul Indian-ish/American-ish immigrant, on a journey to discover meaning and joy in life through the expression and creation of flavor. A Certified Sommelier and teacher, Ashwin embarks to Georgia, Italy, and Scotland only to find that while flavor grabs, it’s the pursuit that sustains. Told with wit and gratitude, packed with insights and introspection, In Pursuit of Flavor vulnerably disrobes the structures obstructing our innate humanness and uncovers the beauty in embracing and celebrating our common condition.

Simmered and melded with one part Flavor and ~three parts the Pursuit thereof, Ashwin narrates honestly the stumbling blocks and lessons learned; the scraped knees and face-plants; the inner challenges and resulting growth using flavor as a common medium, a universal language, an omnipresent backdrop. A study on flavor — in wine, in food, in whisky — through the lens of a trained subject-matter-expert and even more so a study on the human experience, Ashwin explores the often-raw dissonance between attaining two seemingly coinciding but frequently paradoxical ideals: success and happiness. Negotiating the Indian and American definitions of each, and searching for new ones, Ashwin journeys holding a tender hope of bringing reconciliation and balance in an otherwise fundamentally confounding existence. In veering away from a life of expectations and towards a life that calls him, Ashwin finds both nothing and everything.

Divided into four distinct Parts each corresponding to a flavor-destination along his journey, you’ll find yourself asking questions you can’t answer and answering questions you never knew you had.