Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Of course! Not a lot of people realize that smell is such an integral part of tasting. Of course, fragrances often have a habit of seeping into the food or drink in the first place. Anyone whose stored cookies in a tin that once held apples, for instance, can attest that the result is apple flavored cookies. But in addition, our olfactory nerves play a huge role in how we actually taste something, so if any kind of perfume is in smelling distance – and let’s face it, perfumes and colognes can be quite strong – the food winds up tasting like Paris Hilton’s latest offering. And no one wants that. In fact, an awful lot of additive agencies work primarily with smells to affect the taste of some of the foods we eat – to make them “taste” like lime or cherry or cookie dough. When I was a kid I used to turn my nose up at foods and my mother would say, “you haven’t even tasted it yet!” Problem is, I’d smelled it, and that had already made an impact.