Olfactory Fact #425: When Life Hands You a Lemon, You Eat More Pizza

A study conducted at a pizzeria in Brittany, France showed a 20% increase in sales when the scents of lemon and lavender were diffused.

China Takes Aim at Stinky Landfills

In a city where 17.6 million residents produce 18,400 tons of household garbage daily - and which inexplicably recycles only 4% of its garbage - officials are literally bringing out the big guns.

In an attempt to counterattack the exploding stench of its overflowing landfills, one hundred giant truck-mounted deodorizing cannons with a maximum range of 164 feet are taking aim at the Gao’antun Garbage Landfill Plant in Beijing’s suburbs, which has been blanketing the city with odor and offending local noses. “At night we all wake up coughing,” says Geng Haiou. “Even when you are sleeping soundly, you can wake up coughing. Everyone opens their windows in the summer and there is that smell.”

The good news is that municipal officials consider the use of the smellitzer-cannons a temporary fix. The bad news is that municipal officials’ idea of a long-term fix is to cover the dump sites with heavier layers of plastic.

Olfactory Fact #103: Autumn Makes You Smell Bad

Our sense of smell is strongest in the spring and summer, thanks to the additional moisture in the air.

Olfactory Adventures in London

We go to galleries to feast our eyes and concerts to feast our ears, so what about our poor culturally-deprived noses?

Scratch & Sniff Events, “Purveyors of Olfactory Adventures,” are introducing a new kind of event that’s a museum for your nose. Hosted by fragrance enthusiast Odette Toilette, the events have been set to introduce more creative ways of responding to that most neglected of senses, our sense of smell.

“Smell is incredibly powerful, especially as a way of vividly recalling memories, but it’s quite a hard thing to talk about and is rather clouded in mystery,” says Odette. “We’re aiming to make fragrance appreciation enjoyable, accessible, and provocative. Rather than traditional formats of perfume appreciation which are based on being able to identify ‘notes,’ we’re using more inventive formats to get people enjoying smell by crossing it over with all sorts of things: social and historic themes, cultural ideas, and other art forms.”

Upcoming events, scheduled for the fourth Tuesday of each month at The Book Club in London, include:

September: The Scent of the 1920s
October: Scent in the Movies
November: Scent and Creativity
January: Around the World Through Smell
February: Male Identity and Scent

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