Ooit las ik het boek van Molly Birnbaum, Smaakmakend. De kok die haar geur en smaak verloor. Je zult als food-professional je geur en smaak maar verliezen! Ook voor iemand die professioneel en gepassioneerd bezig is met wijn betekent dit een groot drama. Wereldwijd leidt 5% van de bevolking echter aan deze aandoening, anosmia genoemd. Vrijdag a.s. wordt er speciaal aandacht gevraagd voor mensen met anosmia. Graag je aandacht voor deze actie!
[Call to action] Many people will be able to think of smells that evoke wonderful, and sometimes long-forgotten, memories. The scent of your grandma’s favourite perfume worn by a passer-by suddenly and unexpectedly returning you to childhood afternoons, or the smell of the air on a cold, crisp winter’s day taking you back to days of heavy snow and sledging. Smell and memory are deeply connected, and research has shown that memories recalled by smell alone have greater emotional resonance than those evoked by other sensory means.
Spare a thought, then, for the many people affected by anosmia – the inability to detect odours – who are unable to experience this emotionally-rich pathway to memories. Large numbers of people lose their sense of smell at some point during life as the result of a cold, sinus problems, or a head injury, and others are born without this sense. US and European studies have suggested that potentially around 5% of the population are affected by anosmia.
Fifth Sense is the charity for people affected by smell and taste disorders*, working to raise awareness of the impact that such conditions have on people’s quality of life and support further research in this area. As part of Anosmia Awareness Day, 27th February, they are asking people to take time to think about and appreciate their sense of smell, and imagine what might it be like to have it taken away…
What is your #LongLostSmell?
• What’s the smell that you would miss more than any other, and why? Or if you are affected by a problem with your sense of smell, what is the one thing you really wish you could smell? Tweet to @FifthSenseUK using #LongLostSmell – these will be shared on Fifth Sense’s Storify page at www.storify.com/FifthSenseUK/long-lost-smell.