THE NOSE KNOWS

Why Is It That The Our Sense Of Smell Is Like A Time Machine

Yesterday, as I was cooking for a client in what happened to be a somewhat public space where random individuals were making their way past my clattering pots and pans, I unknowingly was taking them back to their mother’s or grandmother’s kitchens.  Four separate folks slowed down, inhaled deeply and replied in their own individual ways…”wow, that smells great, takes me back to…!”  Why is it that smell invokes such deep and vivid memories?  It’s because the area of our brain that controls emotional memory lies very close to our olfactory nerve.  Those freshly baked cookies take you back to Grandma’s when you were young, the smell of Banana’s Foster flambeing may whisk you back to a first date and the smell of hot gumbo almost certainly takes you back to each years first cold snap.  These memories are imprinted on our psyche, and can bring on endless smiles and joy, so get in the kitchen and begin to make your own lifelong memories based on smell…your nose will thank me later!