Do spices have the same odor on the other side of world ? effect of culture on spice odor perception

2016

International audience; Culture is known to affect people’s ability to identify or describe everyday odors (Chrea et al, 2005). For example, Vietnamese students are better at identifying the odor of ginger than French students who are better at identifying the odor of blackcurrant. Familiarity has been suggested as a factor underlying this effect. The goal of this study was to evaluate further this interpretation and to explore its role in the perception of spices in France and Thailand. We evaluated if food habits link to a given culture (e.g. eating curry) would impact individuals’ ability to identify (verbal task) or recognize (perceptual task) odors presented alone or in mixtures. Six s…