Sushi Kanesaka, a Japanese restaurant in central London, has urged customers not to wear perfume before visiting because perfumes can affect customers’ tastes. This policy was explained to customers by the fact that certain flavors can “mask the freshness of the aroma of fish dishes”. On this subject writing The Guardian.
Perfume and food
Chef, pastry chef and TV presenter Renat Agzamov explained to Russian media how foreign smells affect the perception of dishes, using the example of the effect of vanilla aroma on taste. Vanillin crystals are bitter on their own, but if added during cooking, foods will taste sweeter.
“The aromatic influences the taste. This means that fragrances, most likely, can really affect taste. (…) It (vanillin) tastes bitter, but its aroma makes the cream sweet. So it affects the taste. But to ban people from going to restaurants, of course, I think is too much,” Agzamov explained.
For his part, The Guardian expert, director of the Institute of Philosophy of the School of Advanced Studies at the University of London, Professor Barry Smith recalled that the language is only responsible for the taste perception of the salty, sweet, spicy, sour. Aromas – both from dishes and from everything around them – that a person feels with his nose. “When you taste or swallow, you exhale. And you can’t exhale and inhale at the same time, ”said the researcher.
Perfume with food scents
Some restaurants and cafes attract their visitors because of the pleasant smells of food coming from inside. Only their source is not in the kitchen, but in the hall, where they put special dampers that attract guests.
“It’s popular in France. There are special aroma guns that spray the smell of chocolate next to chocolate shops. I even wanted to buy one for myself,” Agzamov explained.
Additionally, some brands specifically create fragrances with food scents. And it’s not just about the smells of strawberries, chocolate and other sweets, to which everyone has long been accustomed. For example, in 2019, perfume brand Demeter released, in collaboration with KFC and Delivery Club, perfumes with flavors of chicken and apple pie. And in 2012, Pizza Hut released a fragrance that smelled like freshly baked pizza.
Even the big perfume houses sometimes release perfumes inspired by dishes or drinks: the smell of matcha has been reproduced by the latte of its Le Labo line, and the aroma of freshly baked almond croissants by DS & Durga.
So far, Russian restaurants are allowed with fragrance, both with food smells and with classic notes. The Covid era is over, the tables are close together again, so there’s no need to overdo the aromas when going to the restaurant, say the experts. Thus, the guests will not interfere with strong odors either for themselves or for others.
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