Category: Essays

Nonfiction pieces exploring perfume, flavor, botanicals, distillation, and much more, from a wide array of perspectives.

A panoramic view of the farm with photos of some of the barn animals—geese, a rabbit, Lady the cow, and a baby goat—overlayed with transparency so you can see the lush green land behind.

“Flight of Barn” * Nonfiction * Rebecca Blaevoet

aromatica poetica December 20, 2022

Today I would like to curate a flight you’ve probably never imagined. No barista course or sommelier training will teach you about the subject we will study today, but it is one all farmers know. Our barn is the staging area: it’s long and symmetrical, wood-paneled a la New Brunswick winter, weathered, rustic, unshakable as the hill it stands on. We swing through the little postern, and enter a palatial gallery, tall wooden doors marching down the length like theatre …

Spirit Becomes Concrete: Mandy Aftel’s Jasmine Grandiflorum Concrete * Leona Godin

aromatica poetica December 2, 2022

“Is Jasmine then the mystical Morn—the centre, the Delphi, the Omphalos of the floral world? Is it the point of departure, the one unapproachable and indivisible unit of fragrance? Is Jasmine the Isis of flowers, with veiled face and covered feet, to be loved of all yet discovered by none? Beautiful Jasmine! If it be so, the Rose ought to be dethroned and the Inimitable enthroned in her stead; suppose we create a civil war among the gardens and crown …

One of the resort staff takes on the daunting-looking task of cracking open a fresh coconut for Smelling and tasting. He begins by skewering the hard, brown ball on a sharp steel pole, breaks the fruit in half and then gently carves out chunks of the white meat.

“Smelling and Tasting, Again for the First Time” * Personal Essay * Thelma Fayle

aromatica poetica September 8, 2022

Smelling a molasses-like ooze on the cover of my damp old book made me wonder what it was. I felt sick to my stomach within five minutes; but didn’t connect the two events. I thought I was coming down with the flu. Within 24 hours I was in Emergency on a ventilator and heart monitor. Eighteen years and a million sneezes later (always more than 100 a day); I no longer had a sense of smell or taste and usually …

A copper samovar sits on a table next to a copper crepe plate stacked with golden deliciousness. And a white teacup and saucer with designs stand by.

“Big Stink in a Little Crepe Shop” * Memoir Excerpt * Elizabeth Sammons

aromatica poetica June 16, 2022

The same way we say “Ah, Shucks!” Russians mutter “Da, Blin!” (Literally, “Yes, crepe.”) I gained insight into this phrase on a mild April evening, when I also discovered how our US cultural expectations sometimes rendered ordinary tasks like ordering dinner somewhat less than forthright. This excerpt comes from “American on Display,” the journal I kept on my first trip to the USSR in 1990 as a bilingual guide on Design USA, a cultural exchange exhibit of American life to …

A collage of Italy photos from Kathleen Fisher: Kathleen’s husband Pete with The Brenta River and the Old Bridge in background, Market in Bassano del Grappa, Aperitivo at Nardini’s Distillery, Close up of Pete with his Aperitivo, The funky bar at Nardini’s, A wall of grappa at Nardini’s.

Grappa Aroma * Nonfiction * Kathleen Fisher

aromatica poetica January 12, 2022

Bassano del Grappa gets one star in the Michelin Green Guide, Italy. It deserves that star for its setting alone which is on the River Brenta in the Veneto region of Northern Italy. I have visited Bassano several times, but my most memorable experience was about 12 years ago when I discovered the Poli Grappa Museum and its room dedicated to the smells of Grappa. On that day, the Alpini (Italy’s specialist mountain infantry) were singing at one end of …

Olfactory Report 8 by AP columnist Catherine Haley Epstein stamp featuring the modern architecture of a greenhouse with hanging herbs.

Olfactory Report 8: Scent and Architecture * Catherine Haley Epstein

aromatica poetica December 9, 2021

For La Biennale di Venezia’s 17th International Architecture Exhibition the curator Hashim Sarkis, Professor and Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, chose the theme “How Will We Live Together?”. Sixty nations participated to respond, where three new countries included Grenada, Iraq, and the Republic of Uzbekistan. The theme was bolstered by five sub-themes all exploring the plurality of human existence socially, politically and in nature. Among the research, the visuals, the haptic …

An illustration of Ernest Gilman, wearing a red polka-dot bowtie, blue shirt, and brown jacket, sitting on a New York City subway with his fancy briefcase reading. Thanks to his anosmia, he is unaware of the toxic-looking green vapors emanating from the homeless man rummaging in his many bags nearby and traveling right beneath his nose, and therefor remains unperturbed. By Alabaster Rhumb.

Anosmia: My Newly Discovered Disability * Nonfiction * Ernest Gilman

aromatica poetica September 1, 2021

“ Par ma foi !” cries Molière’s would-be bourgeois gentleman M. Jourdain: “For more than forty years I have been speaking prose while knowing nothing of it”! I had my own Molière moment just recently when I learned that there was actually a name—and a scientific name at that—for my inability to smell: “anosmia.” I myself might otherwise have come up with a name like “olfactory deprivation,” or perhaps “smell blindness” (I know this is controversial), but I wanted to imply a …

Image of Christophe’s trusted Maltese, Yuki, walking on a blue tansy-scented floor in the lab. By the author for Rhinoferocious.

Olfactory Report 7: Rhinoferocious * Catherine Haley Epstein

aromatica poetica August 12, 2021

Rhinoferocious – a word to describe those who defend perfumery as an art Rhino-art – art for your nose Rhinographies – the study of the tendencies of a unique nose. –Words coined and inspired by scent artist, Christophe Laudamiel, included in the Odorbet. I’ve just returned from my first trip to New York City post-covid pingdemic times. A key theme for me during the week is that the handmade is extremely important right now. Human touch is lost in many …

Drawing of the inside of an apothecary with people making and selling medicine , artist unknown late fourteenth or early fifteenth century, Flemish: an aprentice seems to be grinding something, there are two men talking business, there is a scale, and a man is purchasing a jar of something from a woman. the picture is on a gray background with the winged snake doctors symbol in each corner.

Olfactory Report 6: Scent as Medicine * Catherine Haley Epstein

aromatica poetica June 23, 2021

Medicine and perfumery have their roots in nature; both started as the alchemy of plants. Why medicine has progressed beyond tinctures and extractions to pills, surgery, and radiation, while aromatherapy and perfumery have not, remains a mystery. Even though people find relief with aromatherapy interventions, it is difficult to validate and measure consistently. That said, there is plenty of historical evidence attributing emotions and feelings to scent. Scents were referred to as “depressing”, “inspiring and reviving,” as far back as …

Olfactory Report 5: Scent as Protagonist * Catherine Haley Epstein

aromatica poetica May 19, 2021

If you are reading this, you likely do not need convincing that indeed, scent is a protagonist in our lives, our society, and our world. We follow it everywhere, watching how it creates change and makes gorgeous metaphors for things – haunting, beautiful, and terrifying. Just as music and visual art can have an active role in changing our perceptions, so too does scent. While scent is invisible, it is intrinsically related to gender, race, politics etc.. We see it …