The Kitchen Thinker: how anosmia affects the pleasure of eating
How one anosmia sufferer proved that food can still be relished despite his inability to smell
'An estimated one-to-five per cent of the population have anosmia, an inability to smell' Photo: RUTHLEWISILLUSTRATIONS.COM
By Bee Wilson
When Duncan Boak cooks chicken in a cream sauce, he chops fresh tarragon to stir in at the end. Nothing surprising in this – lots of people enjoy that classic French combination. The difference is that Boak cannot taste the tarragon in the finished dish. He is one of an estimated one-to-five per cent of the population with anosmia, an inability to smell. Given that most of what we call "flavour" is actually smell, to be anosmic is to be denied much of the pleasure of eating.
Often, doctors have no idea why someone has become oblivious to all smells from cut grass to burned toast. Anosmia can go with nose and sinus disorders; or stroke or Alzheimer's; or simply ageing. In Boak's case, the reason is head injury, damaging the olfactory nerve. Nine years ago, aged 22, Boak went out drinking and fell down a flight of stairs backwards. After a week in hospital, he was happy to be back at home, eating risotto and drinking "a little glass of red wine". Until he realised: it didn't taste of anything.
Many anosmia sufferers lose their former interest in food. I can't say I blame them. Imagine not being able to smell chocolate! Or garlic. But Boak – a remarkable person – found the positive. He set up Fifth Sense, a charity to support sufferers of smell and taste disorders. While he felt "colder and angrier" than before, he made a determined effort to compensate for a lack of flavour in his cooking.
Most anosmia sufferers can still detect the basic tongue-tastes of sweet, sour, bitter and salty. Many eat less healthily than they did before, craving the big hit of salt and sugar in junk food now the subtler flavours are lost. Boak, however, found that by focusing on taste he could enjoy certain things in a new way. He could pick out different coffees and beers just through variations in the bitterness. Texture became another passion – the way that slippery pappardelle could be enhanced by tangly rocket and sweet soft courgettes. Boak has just started a blog celebrating the "multi-sensory" experience of eating.
We don't just eat with our mouths and noses. Consider the trigeminal nerve in the face. Without this, wasabi would lack fire, and you would never get that faintly thrilling buzz from fizzy water. Some anosmia sufferers find that with all the aroma gone, the feeling in the trigeminal nerve is horribly strong. Cinnamon with all of the heat and none of the perfume can be alarming. Others relish the buzzing sensation.
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Boak's biggest revelation has been how important the build-up to a meal is. He grew up with good home-cooked meals. To make chicken in tarragon sauce without the tarragon would just feel wrong. He uses parsley a lot too, though, frankly, he can't distinguish it from tarragon, except visually. But just the look of the ingredients can stimulate appetite. He relishes the vivid green of the herbs on the chopping-board.
He also loves feeding others, who can appreciate the trouble he has taken. No one would choose to be anosmic but, to his surprise, Boak has discovered a world of food beyond flavour.
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