#Anosmia

[incognitopolls]

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[a-polite-melody]

I hate how many things which are meant to be easy cooking recipes and tutorials rely on being able to “add spices by smell it should be obvious what goes together” or “smell when it’s done”.

Because like… is a beginner looking for something easy really going to have the right kinds of knowledge to do those things?

I’d expand further on that myself, but I can’t, because I run into another issue altogether:

I’m anosmic

I can’t smell

So no.

I can’t just smell the spices and tell which go together. Even if that were something the average person with no cooking experience could intuit by smell by remembering the smells of things they’ve eaten, I can’t do that.

I can’t just smell when it’s done or when the beginning of burning is happening to be able to use that to stop the cooking. Even if that were something the average person with no cooking experience could smell and interpret as a sign to take food off of the heat, I can’t do that.

It’s frustrating as fuck. I want to be able to cook. Every resource I’ve ever seen for people who were not taught to cook who are now learning in adulthood focus so much on using your sense of smell. Guess I’m fucked.

(And I’m very aware that this is probably the least frustrating and debilitating sense to not have/have a disability around in this regard. And it’s still fucked. I can’t even imagine if there were other barriers as well.)

[vee-lociraptor]

in the taste lab straight up “skewing it.” and by “it,” haha, well. let’s justr say. the data

[lily-of-the-valley-2763]

This is even funnier to me because I'm a questioning asexual who can't smell, and people will literally ask me to smell something even after I've told them I can't smell.

Like, just because your lavender or whatever scent is "really strong" doesn't mean my nose is going to start magically working 🫠

[errrr-vent-blog]

we are so ableist about smell. "oh youcant smell ? yea youre probably just sick or something it'll pass" "youmean youcant smell that awful smell ?? YOURE SO LUCKY I WISH ICOULDNT" "its not a disability not to be able to smell !!" "youre so lucky to not be able to smell" "wellll even if it is a disability youre still lucky" and so on cause icould go on forever. why say that to an anosmic ? it isnt fair, im disabled too, and im NOT lucky for not being able to live a normal life like a non disabled person.

[blue-sleeps-in]

it's genuinely hilarious how fake smells sound. when was the last time you heard someone notice or describe a smell. I don't remember the last time anyone even mentioned the word "smell" and I don't think anyone ever described a smell beyond "good" or "bad" to me. no one EVER talks about it. you guys have to be making this stuff up

[godlessondheimite]

when i was a kid i thought scented markers were a scam and thought the other kids were lying when they said skittles had different flavors. eventually i figured out i didn’t have a sense of smell but whenever i told my parents this, they said that was impossible and so i didn’t know what the deal was until i got over and realized my parents were wrong.

[runawaymarbles]

The most stressful part of anosmia isn't the BO. it's not being able to tell the spray bottle full of water apart from the spray bottle full of vinegar

[miaprime]

what if i wrote a fic for anosmia awareness day. what then

[radiosquad]

I don't want to post about this too much but I HATE the term "noseblind". Like, yes, you've gotten used to a smell and don't notice it as much anymore. But you haven't lost your sense of smell entirely.

Here's an article explaining what I'm talking about in more depth.

[caw-oticdork]

HUH

So I've just listened to @lingthusiasm's episode on words about smells, and apparently european languages aren't nearly as evocative about their smell words as a lot of other languages?

Which is quite strange and fascinating to me, as I never had any ability to smell, and have for most of my life conceptualised smell as like a metaphor or literary device for the atmosphere of a space or thing, almost synonymous with "vibes" and "aura".

Now I very much wonder what my conceptualision of "smell" would be like had my mother tongue been one with more evocative smell words....

Maybe I'd have figured out that I don't have a sense of smell before the age of 14?

Did the fact that most smell words in German and English follow the "smell of [thing]" or "[thing] smell" scheme help or hinder my understanding my outside understanding of the concept of smell?

Also now I've got to get the book they mentioned in the episode, Shadowscent, which features a smell-word-based conlang!

[aspiringhorrorauthor]

Hey guys how’s it going today I experienced fucking ableism for my anosmia???

[kariachi]

Sometimes I watch shows like the Great British Bake-Off, other cooking competitions, and I see the judges going to people and going "you've overseasoned, it's awful now" and I think "you would not survive my cooking". Because loves I am anosmiac, I season like it is the only chance I'll get to taste something, and in many cases it is. The word 'aromatic' is my mortal enemy. I always season to taste, so that I can taste, and anyone who gets caught in my path will simply have to adjust or make their own damn food.

I can't speak for other anosmiac cooks, but I know I probably wouldn't last on one of these shows.

[poll-palace]

(Anosmia is being unable to smell things)

[hellopuns]

Bun-Berry #32 !

It's MY webcomic and I get to pick the character who shares my disability

[frankchurchillsaysrelax]

i’m anosmic, of course i’m going to politely ask you not to shove things in my face and ask me to smell it…the first time. i’m anosmic, of course i’m going to have an anxiety spiral during the summer wondering if i stink after half an hour in the sun. i’m anosmic, of course i’m going to eat something spoiled once in my life and then obsessively ask people to check everything i eat in the future like some sort of medieval king afraid of being poisoned.