Why we think honey and coffee smell unpleasant
There are two evolutionary reasons for having a nose, runs one theory. The first is to ascertain whether it would be safe to put something in your mouth - to gauge edibility. The second is to advise about whether it would be a good idea to run away - to sense danger, in other words. The above chart, produced by a study at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, shows our reactions to different smells along two axes. On the X is pleasantness, on the Y a spectrum that is best understood as running from things we think are toxic at one end - “Think of the bottles under the kitchen sink,” says Rehan Khan, the study’s lead author - to, at the other, things we could eat. So, strawberry, pleasant and edible, appears at the top right. What about unpleasant edibles, though? “There are many things that smell bad that people will pay to eat: walk into any French cheese shop,” says Khan. And coffee and honey - unpleasant?
“The visual cue for smell is very strong, and when you take that away, things can smell different. The ‘pleasantness’ of molecules also changes depending on their concentration. One, indole, for instance, is redolent of flowers in small doses, but, as it gains in intensity, starts to smell like gym socks.”
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One Response to “Why we think honey and coffee smell unpleasant”
Coffee and vomit smells have the same unpleasantness? Who funded this research?
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