Article – Different aromas?

Many wine tasters miss to realize how much more ‘switched on’ they are than others when it comes to smell and taste experiences. People’s differences in fragrance awareness recently dawned to me. I just completed the recording of a series called Nesevis for the Norwegian television, in which I guided the Norwegian people through their beautiful and expansive country with the help of my nose. We made a variety of exciting experiments in which the sense of smell was tested in various situations. For instance, we changed the entire olfactory image of a gas station to see how buying patterns changed. Furthermore, we allowed a broker to sell apartments with the help of the smell of freshly baked bread one day and less successfully with fish odour the next day. The affect on people was clear, but very few of them actually realised that we had manipulated the scent picture.

There is plenty to do. I myself know that my job goes more and more towards becoming some kind of fragrance consultant where I teach people to develop their neglected senses rather than towards immersing myself even further into the wine jungle. One question we asked everyone we met was their favourite smell. The vast majority responded something in the scope of buns, vanilla, roses and chocolate. In the wake of this question I was asked to choose smells for a cookbook and analyze my eight favourite scents in the world of cuisine. I will give you a sneak preview here.