The multisensorial journey through the five senses continues and in this second issue of IDEA Tourism magazine. After the taste, the new protagonist is strongly bounded to the previous one: the SMELL. In fact in our brain the taste and the olfactory system are integrated and a signal received in one part is activated also in the other.
The smell influences the taste…
The sense of smell is the most “direct” of the five senses and it influences the taste. It happens because of two processes called “orthonasal smell” and “retronasal smell” which transform the olfactory signal in taste, offering to us a larger perception of flavours. When we smell the good perfume of a food, the perception of the smell comes from the interaction among the nose, the cells that carry the inputs and the brain, which “reads” these signals and creates perceptions. The olfactory molecules reach the nose and are captured by the mucous membrane, which contains the receptors. We are talking about 5 million cells provided with “eyelashes”, that once in contact with the olfactory molecules send a signal in a specific area of our brain, through the olfactory nerve. The direct connection between nose and brain explains why a simple smell can excite us. For example, also if we close the eyes, we can always link a smell to a specific experience or person.
Smell is the most ancient and most powerful sense, it is the guardian of our memories and it is able to guide us in every moment. Everything passes through the smell: emotions, memories and sensations.
The olfactory memory has developed during thousands of years because it strongly bounded to the survival of species and the articulation of primitive languages. Our ancestors used to smell the food to understand if it was edible or not and also many animals do it. Thanks to the evolution of the language and to the visual and oral communication, the olfactory memory is used less and less by humans. Nevertheless it has survived and it represents an interesting boundary for the perfumes and art industry, because it is the most direct connection between the olfactory experiences and the brain.
A territory to smell
Thanks to the smell is it possible to know and understand deeply the secrets of a city. In this issue, in addition to places, we will tell you the aromas of wines, the perfumes of the cuisine, the scents of the waking up nature and the stories of characters who had made their name international and their products, excellences recognised in Italy and all over the world, thanks to their wilfulness.