I don’t remember ever having much of a sense of smell.
Experts say that our enjoyment of food depends on our ability to sense its aroma, so how am I able to enjoy eating?
It’s easy. For me, the texture of food is what’s important. I eat a brazil nut by crunching bits of it with my front teeth—slowly shaving off the sweet meat of the nut.
I remember a Dairy Queen in New Jersey that had the best soft ice cream I’ve ever eaten—because of its texture. Rather than being completely smooth, it had a slight grainy quality that delighted my tongue.
Pasta simply must be al dente—again, for the texture. The worst foods are the ones that have been cooked to mush, with no texture at all.
But I was not so in love with the lumpy texture of oatmeal. I remember sitting at the breakfast table as a child, refusing to eat it. When they forced me to, I threw it up.
The texture of cooked oatmeal was something it took me many years to learn to tolerate. Put enough walnuts in it, however, and a dash of brown sugar, and I can actually enjoy eating it now. The nuts crunch, and that does the trick.
When I was a teenager, I tried putting a dab of perfume behind my ears, but only because my girlfriends were doing it, and I had seen my mother do it. I quickly grew bored with perfumes and gave them up.
Sexual attraction is supposed to be influenced, at an unconscious level, on scent. Maybe that’s why I couldn’t tell if I was attracted to a man until I talked to him.
The men I was attracted to because of their looks were always wrong once they opened their mouths.
It’s a man’s mind that I am interested in. The more I enjoy talking to him, the more handsome he becomes in my eyes.
I suppose as a new mother it was an advantage not to have a sense of smell. Washing cloth diapers in the toilet never bothered me.
On the other hand, I couldn't tell when my baby’s diaper needed changing, either. I remember a friend taking one sniff and saying, “Ugh, you need to change that diaper now.”
Because I can’t tell if my clothes smell or if I smell, I am careful about washing and using deodorant. I don’t want to take any chances.
One of my sisters said she doesn’t put her clothes in the laundry unless they are dirty. Clothes last longer if you don’t wash them so often. But she has a sharp sense of smell, so she knows when her clothes need washing.
She is always telling me to put my garbage out when she visits.
My daughter does that, too. And before she drinks any milk in my refrigerator, she smells it.
I can’t tell if the milk is bad until it curdles in my coffee.
It’s odd that Adrian and I matched up when neither of us has a sense of smell.
Maybe we both liked spicy foods for that reason, though Adrian liked his so hot that even I couldn’t stand it. We always put a bottle of hot sauce on the table at every meal for him.
It was Adrian’s mind that attracted me to him at first.
I don’t know what attracted him to me, but I know it wasn’t the way I smelled.
