Smelling Food before Eating It

How do you do the sniffing? Do you lift up the bowl or plate, or bow your head down, or do you put it on your fork/spoon and bring it up to your nose?

The upper class in modern societies do smell their food to get a first idea about the food and the thoughts of the chef how he composed the dish, especially in a creative restaurant with very unusual flavor combinations.

Appreciating the aroma of the food is important, and I agree that it's a good part of the dining experience.

However mine is a different story, yes, I have this habit too but for different reason.

I do sniff food when my sense of smell alerts me that something is amiss. It all started when people around me telling me that the food they gave me is 'Ok' for vegetarian, but the truth is there's something hidden beneath those veggies like tiny bits of tuna, egg, milk, cheese, MSG, or what not -  so to avoid tasting it, I just sniff the food first like a food-sniffing canine. Lol. I obviously stick my face in the plate or the plate in my face (absolutely unattractive site).

Then I realized that it was kinda offensive/rude to the cook/host. I might leave an impression that she’s serving food that's off somehow or perhaps the quality is lacking that I’m smelling it to test if the food is sophisticated enough for her Royal Highness.   

So I'm still learning on how to do it in a more subtle way and totally unnoticed. Plus Miss Manners said "Enjoying the smell of the food is perfectly allowable, provided it is not accompanied by obvious physical gestures."

Also, now I'm more into appreciating each food and showing respect to the one who prepared it and I politely say no in case something is odd. 

Inked with Love and Passion,
Simply Princess

May 18, 2015 at 10:21pm