In Search of Lost Smells: Olfaction, the Fifth Unknown and Essential Sense by Françoise-Marie Santucci

One summer evening, long before Covid, a car accident suddenly made me lose my sense of smell. I, who loved smells, couldn't even imagine that they could disappear! And yet, everything I breathed in now seemed "empty": the smell of food, of nature, of others, of my own... Gone! Life had lost its flavor. Even my emotions and memories were affected by it.

To ward off this fate, I kept a journal of my journey in this strange sanitized world, while trying to understand what was happening to me, and how our nose works. I also met many "smell experts": perfumers, winemakers, doctors, chemists, and top chefs.

I wrote this book to celebrate the sense of smell, this unknown sense that tens of millions of people around the world are deprived of – especially because of Covid. But before the pandemic, who knew what anosmia meant?

Disparaged by Kant or Freud, on the path to rehabilitation by the aficionados of an era in search of pleasures, the sense of smell still holds many surprises. And the questions are endless:

• Did you know that there are nearly a trillion different smells?
• Is smell and taste the same thing?
• Why do we smell vanilla better than basil?
• Are some smells stronger than others?
• Can we relearn how to smell?
• And what does it feel like to no longer perceive the smell of your partner?

Françoise-Marie Santucci recounts her daily life as an anosmic. Always passionate about perfumes, wines, and dishes, she humorously describes the loss of her sense of smell and provides a host of clear and captivating explanations on how our nose works.