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Hi Adam- I didn't know you were from Oregon! I am also from Salem and you're talking about NorPac right? In high school I worked at the plant in Stayton and to this day I HATE the smell of green beans being processed in the Summer. Now though I live in Eugene and we have the Franz bakery so it always smells like cinnamon-raisin bread in the mornings...

When I was a kid, my school bus used to take us past someplace that smelled like Cheerios, which was delicious. This was in Buffalo, NY, but Google is not helping me figure out what this place might have been.

I grew up about a block from a chef boyardee factory. I would rarely notice it because it was always there, but i would alwys get comments from visitors that my neighborhood smelled like tomato sauce. I also work a couple blocks from a factory that makes kraft shredded wheat. At night especially in the winter stepping outside just smells like amazing goodness mixed with joy. I never liked shredded wheat, but darn it if it doesn't smell amaxing.

A cookie factory in san jose , Costa Rica (where I was born and raised). The factory is at this intersection on the way out of the capital city into the next provinces. So, on occasional Sunday afternoons when my whole family would go out for a picnic or any kind of trip (or paseo in Spanish) we had to go through that intersection. And that smell of cookies being baked was always comforting. Costa Rica 30 years ago was a gem, a very special place to grow up. I love it still with all my heart in spite of the many changes that snowballed through globalization, and still when I go home on my way from the airport and pass that factory just a whiff is enough to make my memory dance in comfy thoughts.

Back when I rode my bicycle to work, I would peddle past the King's Hawaiian Bakery (the factory, not the restaurant, in north Torrance, CA, I believe). The aroma was amazing: sweet, luscious bread. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

I grew up next to an Anheiser Busch brewery which smelled very strongly of yeast. It was a comforting bready aroma in winter. Summers on the other hand- yikes! Nobody wants to battle a Southern California summer with hot bread stench hanging in the air. The orange blossoms from the nearby groves made for perfect springtime smells though.

When I was studying abroad in Cork, Ireland, my apartment was next door to the Beamish & Crawford brewery. I knew I was almost home as I made my way back from the pubs at night because I could smell the strong hops in the air, which had a dog food-esque musk. I grew to like it by the end because of its familiarity, but boy did it take some getting used to.

@oregonpinot: I actually do not have the pleasure of being from Oregon. I only lived there for a bit (1997 to 2000). I grew up in Kansas City. Oh, and thanks for reminding me of the name of the facility.

@Doctored: You hit on something there—crisp, chilly weather. It seems that odors of these sorts carry better in cold air. All my memories involve cold nights (almost a given any night in the Willamette Valley). I suppose because the hot air doesn't draft the odors up into the sky.

Growing up, driving through Seattle, you would always smell something akin to urine as you passed the Ranier Beer factory at the south end of downtown.

But the clincher was that my middle school was next to a large bakery, they ran parallel to each other, so certain classrooms would smell like different products. The portables smelled like garlic bread, one side was always donuts, there was a section that was sourbread. Lucky for us they also had a small outlet store attached to satisfy the scent induced cravings with cut-price baked goods!

I love it when the wind shifts and the smell from the tortilleria around the corner comes this way. It's the best!

Ah...That's the wonder bread sign in Columbus! When I lived there last year I remember those smells wafting over the Short North. I miss it's glorious glow.

My law school is right next to a Sara Lee bread factory - it's heaven!! Growing up, there was a cane syrup processing plant not far from us - but it generally smelled like alcohol, not syrup.

There's a large bakery just south of downtown Charlotte NC that pumps out the smell of honeybuns several blocks around. It smells wonderful and sickening at the same time.

Pit smoked barbeque almost anywhere in Texas. If you can't smell the smoke, don't try the restaurant.

I live in a town with a cereal factory. Every few days, you get a strong whiff of whatever they are making that week (a toasty cocoa smell for chocolate cereal, a sweet, corny smell for puffed corn). I've lived here long enough that I don't really notice the smell anymore, but it's very noticeable on rainy days.

From time to time, driving through the Bronx (New York City) on I-87, you can still smell cookies baking at the Stella D'Oro plant, which is right next to the highway.

We have the Swiss Miss hot cocoa factory here in town so I wake up to smells of chocolate, caramel, vanilla and oddly enough at times, cookies

I grew up on the South Side of Chicago not too far from the Tootsie Roll factory. THAT was a pretty good smell.

My mother grew up in the Back of the Yards (stockyards, that is) back when they were still stockyards. That, on the other hand--not a good smell.

There's a Frito-Lay plant right down the hill from our house. I'm sure they fry the corn chips there, because the neighborhood periodically smells like masa, like if a less than stellar cook were making tamales.

@hmlicata: i moved away 15 years ago... glad to know it's still there. every now and then i could smell it after getting off work in the loop. near the river. i always thought i could make a killing if i had a brownie stand when that scent wafted through.

Cambridge, MA, circa 1990, Massachusetts Avenue near Central Square: the sugary, minty smell wafting from the NECCO factory. Mmmmmm.

We have roasting peanuts most of the year, shunted aside in the fall by ketchup and barbeque sauce. But when the wind shifts, it's dog bisquits--which I did not recognize when I first moved into the area; the scent was reminiscent of the instant mashed potatoes served in my high school cafeteria...so not completely gross until I found ou what it actually was.

In the North end of Halifax NS, the CF Navy base is right next to the Oland's Brewery (makers of tasty Keith's India Pale Ale), so trying to teach sailors anything with the smell of brewing wafting through the classroom was nearly impossible. That malting smell on a hot day in an non-air conditioned room was hard to work through.

When I was in college, the smell of bacon would sometimes waft through the air. My friend and I eventually figure out that the plant was on the other side of the highway from the campus. If the plant had just advertised what brand of bacon they were, that company would have gotten so much business from hungry, hungry college students.

In Malden, Massachusetts the New England Coffee Roasters are near the Stop N' Shop there in Malden center was always cranking out the smells. The roasting coffee beans always smelled like burning toast to me. I cannot tell you how many times I went running into the kitchen in a panic thinking my bread was on fire in the toaster oven.

@PrettyNicola - there is indeed a General Mills plant in Buffalo that makes Cheerios. I smell Cheerios all the time while driving downtown! :)

@esmesbell - you are right, and the plant is still there - many mornings as I'm coming over the skyway to work, I catch the smell of cheerios. It's the General Mills plant right on the Buffalo river....I think the smell drifts over the southeast part of the city. It's located on the river because barges still bring flour into the grain elevators.
My sister lives up hill from Petri Cookies in Silver Creek, NY - once in awhile when I visit you can smell baking cookies through the whole neighborhood...it's a wonderful smell!
In the neighborhood where I work there are a few bars...when I leave work the intoxicating smell of chicken wings is everywhere...it's amazing I don't live on those! lol

My folks live in [redacted] S. America, and when i go to visit them, the drive to their house from the airport takes us past a rum factory, there is a particular burnt sugar caramel...something smell that isn't totally yummy, but since I associate it with getting to visit my folks, it's very welcoming.

I used to work in Hunt Valley, MD less than a mile from the McCormick spice factory. Mostly you didn't notice the aromas, except when they'd make oregano. The whole town would smell delicious for weeks.

I craved Italian food every day those weeks....

I grew up in Milwaukee, WI, and while I didn't live there during the high times of multiple breweries, there was one on the west side of the city, near Miller Park, and if you were driving at night, with the windows down, it'd fill up the car with the yeasty smell of beer. And on the cool Wisconsin night, I always thought that was great.

having worked in downtown kc as well, i recall the aroma of the folgers plant. but somedays there would be an unpleasant odor near the downtown airport, like from an animal rendering plant or something. depended on which way the wind blew.

In most of northern New Mexico, it smells like roasting chile during the early fall...if only they could export that scent...it's delicious

What I learned when I lived in Portland: Not everyone loves the smell of beer brewing. I was there for the last few years before the brewery closed on Burnside, and I loved it.

When I lived in Baltimore, I could smell the McCormick spice plant from one part of town. Also, the original Daily Grind coffee shop used to roast coffee beans in Fells Point, so you could smell that distinctive burnt toast aroma throughout the neighborhood. Not sure if they still do or even if it's still there.

Growing up in Ohio, my grandparents lived by a Schwebel's bread bakery in Boardman. I loved smelling the baking bread when we went to visit them, which was often, or when I went to my grade school skate nights (our roller skating rink was right next to it!). I don't think I ever ate Schwebel's though...

The Folger's plant is still open in Kansas City, isn't it? I work in downtown KC and if the wind is right, the coffee smell is fabulous (and I don't even drink coffee.)

There are some lofts in the building next door to the plant. They're called the Coffee Lofts.

Wonder Bread plant in Memphis. I always drive extra slow when passing it.

There is a meat processing plant with a 75,000 head feedlot just outside of my town. So I can't say I would really complain about a maple syrup scent wafting around my house.

But about an hour from here, there is a Hostess Frito Lay plant. Love the smell of Lay's Classic chips! There is also a sugar plant in that same town. The smell of cooking sugar beets is unique.

On a good morning when the wind's blowing the right way and not too fast I get to wait for my train to work accompanied by the smell of chocolate from Cadbury's Bournville factory (in Birmingham, UK). Always reminds me I should go to the factory shop more often before I have to move, as well as how much I like where I live at the moment.

The 60 Fwy as it runs through Rowland Heights in southern California -- right around the Nogales St. exit, where there are row after row of Chinese & Asian restaurants. The smell of sauteeing garlic, especially around lunch and dinner time, often wafts over the multiple-lanes freeway ... enticing you to take the nearest exit to find the nearest restaurant!

Oh, another one. I was working in downtown Detroit. Every morning, I would smell the aroma of fried potatoes, the wonderful hashbrown-aroma you smell when passing a great diner in the wee hours of a cold morning. One day I finally got off at the exit where the wonderful aroma was coming from to find the restaurant. Manage my surprise when I found out what I was actually smelling was from the Better Made factory, and they were processing potato chips! A disappointment on the level of the waffle story above!

The minty smell in Cambridge is NOT from the Necco factory. There is not even Necco factory in Cambridge anymore. The former building where there used to be a Necco factory was purchased by Novartis and was converted into a biology lab.

Regardless, the mint smell is from the Cambridge Brands factory on Main Street that makes candy for Tootsie Roll Industries. It's the result of making Junior Mints.

Theres this rinky-dink bakery close to where I live that bakes the most delicious guava, cheese pastries; plus homemade empanadas! The smell is buttery and sweet. Reminds me of where I came from.

I live in Ybor City, the Latin quarter of Tampa, FL. The there are two bakeries and a company that roast Cuban style coffee with in walking distance of my apartment. The smells are AMAZING!

@amydistel, I grew up in that exact neighborhood near Miller Park! The yeast smell actually comes from 2 places- the Miller Brewery, and (emitting a stronger smell I think) the Red Star Yeast factory in the valley.

I was in Battle Creek, MI and was outside all day. Battle Creek, Cereal City, is the home of the Kellogg's cereal plant. I was at a park a good 5 miles from the Kellogg factory. In the morning they were making Cocoa Pebbles, in the afternoon, Fruit Loops. Smelled delicious.

B&G Foods in Portland, Maine, makes B&M Baked Beans. You can smell the sweet baking molasses aroma driving through Portland on Interstate 95. Yum!

Decatur, IL - has an ADM plant that makes cornstarch and the whole town smells like corn flakes.

Its neither a good nor a bad smell.... just corny and ubiquitous.

I prefer my own local autumn "large scale" smell of roasting green chiles on nearly every parking lot surface in town. Tingly nose-burning wonderment...

Here in Lexington, KY we have a JIF factory and when they are roasting peanuts it's a wonderful thing... even despite the latest scare! I used to live about 3 blocks from it, and I really miss that neighborhood.

mmm, every time I drive past the Nabisco factory on 208 in fair lawn, nj I always roll down the windows and take in a big whiff. mmmm, cookies

I live in a little town in Yorkshire, England, and there's a health-food shop called the Bear Co-Op near me that always smells really strongly of spices and herbs. I've always loved it, since I was a little girl.

Hi I realize this is pretty late in the game to post but esmesbell mentioned the Cheerios smell in Buffalo, NY. It's from the General Mills Plant on the canal. They alternate between Cheerios and Coco Puffs.