Philanthrosmia
2024Why should we care more about our body odour? Philanthrosmia is a neologism, meaning: the care for body odours (philo- love, anthro- human, osmia- smell), and gives name to a series of Body Odour Tastings, where all the participants can discuss the taboos related to body odours, while enjoying them in their food. Being able to accept our body odors as they require a lot of courage and time, as we have been pressured by social restrictions and prejudices to smell a certain way.
The aesthetic construction of body odour is biased, and it was built upon a colonial and racist past, where certain communities were deemed to smell worse than others due to their difference. Body odours play an important role in our lives, and our ancestors knew it better than we do, for they used them to communicate with each other. Nowadays, it is not so acceptable to sniff one another in public, but could we still be expressing our curiosity about body odour by enjoying their encounter in our food?
During the Body Odour Tastings, all participants are invited to experience courses with whiffs of body odours, and the participants can compose a dish that recreates a body odour of their choice. Philansthrosmia creates a space for debunking olfactory-related body issues and in a broader sense, fosters more interest and awareness towards the sense of smell.
This project had the help and support of Jurjen van Nes and the DAE community Experimental Grant.