You know the whole “scent-is-memory” thing? Sometimes I get a little tired of hearing about it, science notwithstanding. I don’t even know whether it affects me, when we’re talking strictly about perfume. A specific fragrance can remind me of people and prior scenarios involving that same fragrance, of course — Guerlain Shalimar will always remind me of a certain eccentric aunt, and patchouli oil of a dear college friend — but there’s no memory to account for my love of roses and violets or my distaste for pear or indolic jasmine notes, for example.

Food and scent and memory, on the other hand — there you’ve got me. I realized again how susceptible I am to the combination of smell, taste and storytelling when I recently sampled a few scents from niche perfumer Hilde Soliani…

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