Nick Johnson skims the lunch menu at the White Dog Cafe, a warren of little rooms and ante-rooms in Philadelphia\u2019s university district. \u201cBeef empanadas\u2026 I would have loved those. But all that braised beef would just get lost on me. Fish and chips I avoid: all fried foods taste the same. I\u2019m looking at the fish tacos. I know I\u2019ll get the spicy heat and a little bit of pineapple flavour, and with the peppers and the guacamole, there\u2019ll be some mouthfeel there.\u201d<\/p>\n
He orders the tacos, and we get a beer that\u2019s on tap. It\u2019s called Nugget Nectar, and it\u2019s produced by the local craft brewery that Nick\u2019s worked at for the past ten years. Nugget Nectar used to be his favourite beer. \u201cIt has a real nice balance of sweetness and hops. But now,\u201d he says, and his face falls, \u201cit\u2019s a shell of its former self to me.\u201d He can describe what it smells like: \u201cpiney\u201d, \u201ccitrusy\u201d, \u201cgrapefruity\u201d. But he can\u2019t smell it any more.<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t think of ourselves as being particularly good smellers, especially compared with other animals. But research shows that smells can have a powerful subconscious influence on human thoughts and behaviour. People who can no longer smell \u2013 following an accident or illness \u2013 report a strong sense of loss, with impacts on their lives they could never have imagined. Perhaps we don\u2019t rank smell very highly among our senses because it\u2019s hard to appreciate what it does for us \u2013 until it\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n
Nick, who\u2019s 34, can pinpoint the moment he lost his sense of smell. It was 9 January 2014. He was playing ice hockey with friends on the frozen pond at his parents\u2019 place in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. \u201cI\u2019ve done it millions of times,\u201d he says. \u201cI was skating backwards, slowly, and I hit a rut on the ice. My feet went out from under me. I hit the back right side of my head. I was out. I came to in the ambulance, people surrounding me, blood pouring out of my ear.\u201d He had ruptured an eardrum and fractured his skull in three places. He had blood on his brain, and was suffering from seizures. \u201cI had no idea what was going on.\u201d<\/p>\n