Olfaction

"The human tongue can distinguish only among five distinct qualities of taste while the nose can distinguish among hundreds of substances, even in minute quantities." (Wikipedia)

I have noticed in food memoirs, like Marcel Proust’s The Madeleine that it is usually one one of the five senses that really does the trick in bringing back a memory purely. In Proust’s case, it was taste more than anything, as in the combination of the Madeleine and tea that connected through to the memory. For myself, it is scent that always does me in first and the other four senses follow suit in splitting open the memory to it’s full potential, if possible.

Herbs could be boiling in the pot, the smell of charcoal on the wind from a neighboring yard, or just an uncanny scent that I can neither place as what it is or why it seems to nudge at the depths of my mind. Whatever way a particular smell reaches my nostrils and hits my brain brings the realization of memory to be had. The problem that arises for me in realizing I have a memory versus fully encompassing that memory, is that when a scent is on the wind so to speak, I could stand there a whole day with a sense of nostalgia that never moves beyond that. Quite frustrating! It is only when I see the food, touch it, munch on it, and also the sounds incorporated in preparation or consuming, that the full memory unfolds. The latter four can be in any combination, but it is scent first (for me) that ignites the whole process of the memoir.