What you eat does change your body odor. If you are eating the same things as people around you, this is negligible most of the time. But if your choice of foods is different, people may shy away. This is most pronounced in intimate contexts with things like garlic, but more in social contexts between carnivores and vegetarians. The former is well known, the latter much less so and if people don't know it they don't know why someone seems off-putting so they can't compensate.
Also, some of these are instant and obvious, like garlic. Others take longer, like asparagus, and by the time it hits most people can't figure out why.
Most humans don't use scent as a dominant sense. Powerful in terms of how it can affect memory and affinity, yes; but rarely mindful. Me, I notice a lot more about body odor than average. Also more about food than anyone except chefs and wine snobs. Frex, I can taste things without licking them, just from the smell.
It would be interesting to study these things in more detail. After all, look how much we learned from running Indian food through a lab. I am still trying to figure out how to reprogram my flavor database to run in reverse. Hook up extremely obscure, unlikely matches, yes; but it's looking for clandestine connections such as the 'furry' note shared by white peaches and Earl Grey tea, not foods with nothing in common.
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dancing_serpent
Well...
Date: 2017-06-26 08:16 pm (UTC)Also, some of these are instant and obvious, like garlic. Others take longer, like asparagus, and by the time it hits most people can't figure out why.
Most humans don't use scent as a dominant sense. Powerful in terms of how it can affect memory and affinity, yes; but rarely mindful. Me, I notice a lot more about body odor than average. Also more about food than anyone except chefs and wine snobs. Frex, I can taste things without licking them, just from the smell.
It would be interesting to study these things in more detail. After all, look how much we learned from running Indian food through a lab. I am still trying to figure out how to reprogram my flavor database to run in reverse. Hook up extremely obscure, unlikely matches, yes; but it's looking for clandestine connections such as the 'furry' note shared by white peaches and Earl Grey tea, not foods with nothing in common.