The Sense of Smell

All of our senses can give us much pleasure, but for wine fans and cooks, the sense of smell is one paid more attention to than the others, because regardless what the food looks like, we first get hooked by smell, and then taste always comes afterward, although those two senses are inextricably linked together.

What are the most evocative smells for you? Let's do this in two separate areas - food and non-food.

Non-food for me is easy although I expect people will have many different things that turn their particular cranks.

For me it is the smell of wood smoke, preferably in the still early morning air, but also sometimes at night. Sadly, it is a smell that is fast becoming unknown to modern city dwellers with fireplaces often banned and pollution rules preventing open burning of wood, but that smell always catches my attention. I have four fireplaces and lots of wood and we plan on enjoying them for a long time. Maybe this smell could be bottled for the poor city dwellers?

For you it might be summer meadows, or spring flowers, or the friendly funkiness of a wood after rain, or the perfume from a memorable encounter . For me it is the wood smoke.

Food - there are many smells that draw us. I posted something on this about five years ago and was interested with the answers. For me it is still frying bacon - nothing draws me quiet like that.

For you it might be bread baking, or coffee brewing, or garlic, or apple pie. Thought it might be interesting to update that thread and see what most pulls our strings.

What is your one food smell, that does for you what Madeleines did for Marcel Proust (in that case the triggers being taste and visual aspect rather than smell)?

OOOOoooooo! Good one, Bill.
I think I may have answered this one -- but I love the smell of garlic and onions sauteing in butter.

The other evocative smell for me is that of human skin (sans perfume) -- and we all smell different. I first noticed that I enjoyed this particular marker when I got up close and personal to my husband. For years I couldn't figure out what the smell of his skin reminded me of. Then one day I was opening up a can of Campbell's soup and I thought of Carl. I reliazed that was it -- Carl smells like campbell's soup! I noticed that people that are members of my inner-circle all have a subtle, earthy smell that, if I think about it long enough, I can catalogue based on other scents with wich I am familiar -- button mushrooms, yeast, etc. If I was blindfolded, I would be able to identify certain people in the room -- sight unseen, sound unheard! I think we all have this. But, I've never asked -- does anyone else notice the personal, identifying smell of others? Just wondering.

What is your one food smell, that does for you what Madeleines did for Marcel Proust (in that case the triggers being taste and visual aspect rather than smell)?

You mentioned it, in you post, Bill - bread baking. There's nothing like it for me. I used to smell it when, on summer vacation, I'd walk into my grandma's house in northern Minnesota. Even today when I walk into a bakery, one in particular near my office, I think of her, vacations, Minnesota and on and on.

Along with baking bread, onions & garlic (Jo Ann) and bacon, I have to add fresh roasted and ground coffee.

[Robin Garr]

Along with baking bread, onions & garlic (Jo Ann) and bacon, I have to add fresh roasted and ground coffee.

I think we're zeroing in on a lot of commonalities in the group, but I have to say that of all these, it's the smell of bacon cooking that can drive me insane with desire. It's probably the pain of losing bacon, even more than steaks or roast chicken or pork chops, that keeps Mary and me from going vegetarian.

does anyone else notice the personal, identifying smell of others? Just wondering.

Definitely. And one body can have many smells, it's local, the nape of the neck is different from between the breasts...

In the class I teach that deals with evolution, one bright young girl asked what purpose it serves to have underarm hair. I have thought about this and I see 2 ways that it is useful. One is as a sort of "dry lubricant" to keep skin from rubbing skin in places where that might cause chafing. The other is that axillary hair is a repository for one's personal scent. You are SUPPOSED to be able to name the people in the room with your eyes closed. Guess what, that's why American ladies shave it off. They are embarrassed to have a noticeable "bouquet."

I loved a line in "Song Lines" (Bruce Chatwin?) where he describes getting into a closed car with 3 or 4 Australian Aborigines. "The smells were something rich and strange." But that's the state of nature.

I could repeat all the scents everyone has mentioned already -- and add pine needles, spruce, the smell of the woods -- the vanilla scent of a giant magnolia in full bloom -- many many others. I love my sense of smell, and another evolutionary fact that I find particularly galling is that a CHICKEN has twice as many kinds of olfactory receptors as I do. Evidently this is some sort of trade off for color vision.

Food....bread baking, garlic and onions in butter, steak on the grill, and the fresh herbs in my garden, when I trim them.
Others ... the first rain of the season, freshly mowed grass, the smell of my Havanese puppy, roses, a new can of coffee just opened. Yes, I smell the people scents, I especially remember how my mother smelled, my husband, our kids and I don't care much for it. These are not bad smells, mind you. I much prefer a freshly showered body, that smells clean, soap scrubbed. I love the my husbands after shave, the soap he uses to shower. I love the line of skin moisturizers I use and how it lingers my clothes, and especially when folks say, "Gosh you smell so clean". I love the smell of freshly dug soil, truffles and just cut wood.

Food-wise, I'd also go with bacon and with onion and garlic frying up in butter or olive oil. Fresh basil and mint are also high on the list. Another one came to me today at the farmers' market when I walked by a stand full of aromatic fresh peaches. On the non-food end, I'd put fresh-cut grass high on the list, mostly because of hay fever issues.

My list would include many of the items mentioned already, but one general class that would include bacon that I love is the smell associated with the browning reaction of meat and poultry. The smell of roasting turkey on Thanksgiving is what got me thinking along this line, the way the smell permeates the house. A little more thinking and I realized non-holiday roasts of any kind provoke a similar response; even browning ground beef can take me in that direction.

And my single all-time favorite is the scent of a supremely ripe yellow peach, still warm from the sun, alternating with the nose of a glass of 1988 Chateau La Tour Blanche. It would have been a highlight of my olfactory life even if I had not been eating the peach and drinking the wine.

edited for clarity

The most evocative non-food smell is one I don't get to have anymore; my own body odor after working interior operations at a structure fire. Sweat from heat, exertion and excitement combined with dirty smoke. It was a good thing. Although we did dangerous things every day, running into burning buildings was what we lived for, and we did not get to do it that often.

While drinking coffee back at the station and rehashing the details of what is now everybody present's new war story, I think my own smell was a powerful affirmation of self-identification as a firefighter.

And on the very rare occasion my wife caught a wiff, she really liked it.

One of my favorites is the first scent of the morning cofee.......what a waker-up for me. My mouth starts salivating , leading to breakfast. Then the smell of both proofing and baking bread. Bacon is another fav because you get both the smell, and the frying sound. The grassy, cat-pea smell of a Sauv Blanc makes me shiver.

Food-wise -
Tea leaves in a tea caddy.
Rosemary - just stroking a hand over the leaves on the rosemary bush, or mingled with the smell of roasting lamb and potatoes.
Steak sizzling on the bbq in the neighbour's back yard.

Other stuff -
There's a lovely incense-like smell that comes from some garden bushes just after sunset. Cistus (rock rose) is one of them. Getting a whiff of that when you walk down the street in the early evening is just heavenly.
Lemon verbena leaves.
Old fashioned red roses.

In addition to most of the above, a very ripe cantalope lightly salted; like we brought back from Georgia, and enjoyed this morning.

How in the world is it possible to define one favorite aroma in any category. I mean, how can one say that bacon frying is better than liver and onions simmering in the skillet. I love fresh bread and it's smell. Heck what is there about bread that is not to love. My Mother baked twice a week for as long as I can remember. Then there is the smell of honeysuckle after a spring shower. Or the aroma of a baby fresh out of the bath. Which is better, the aroma of fresh brewed, or fresh ground coffee? And a short story. One day last week I was checking out at my favorite Lexington wine store, when I caught the scent of the cashier. No hitting on her, but I commented that she smelled good, and she replied, then it must be my natural scent because I am not wearing anything. Nice thread Bill.

I mean, how can one say that bacon frying is better than liver and onions simmering in the skillet.

Are you kidding? Bacon frying gets 96 points, whereas liver and onions only scores 82.

No hitting on her, but I commented that she smelled good, and she replied, then it must be my natural scent because I am not wearing anything.

She was naked?
BYW Bob, I have to agree with Frank on that liver and onions bit.

Are you kidding? Bacon frying gets 96 points, whereas liver and onions only scores 82.

RMP, or is that Hrrrrrmph?

She was naked? BYW Bob, I have to agree with Frank on that liver and onions bit.

I knew you were going to say that Winger.

I mean, how can one say that bacon frying is better than liver and onions simmering in the skillet.

Are you kidding? Bacon frying gets 96 points, whereas liver and onions only scores 82.

Or less, depending on whether or not you like liver (I don't, unless it is in terrine/pate form).

Bacon is always good.



Well, maybe not always good....

Are you kidding? Bacon frying gets 96 points, whereas liver and onions only scores 82.

Or less, depending on whether or not you like liver (I don't, unless it is in terrine/pate form).

Bacon is always good.



Well, maybe not always good....

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See what I mean Bill?