What a good nose knows. The role of smell in the appreciation of food.

The sense of smell, together with taste, is the most marginalized in the Western philosophical tradition. Actually, it plays a decisive role in many of our activities and social and affective relationships, and, in particular, in one of our most ordinary and meaningful behaviours: the evaluation and appreciation of food. How many of us, however, are aware of the role of our nose in the formation of the flavour of the food we eat? And to what extent does this underestimated sense contribute to the appreciation of a dish or a wine and to the pleasure we take in it? Starting from the affinities that link smell and taste, i.e., our chemical senses, the aim of this essay is to highlight how the sense of smell, and, in particular, retronasal olfaction, decisively contribute to the perception of flavour, probably since one of our distant ancestors started to cook food.