The esteemed David Rochester (who I read with considerable admiration) wrote a post about fragrance, relating to a woman he is involved with (or not). Upon reading it I thought of an old girlfriend whose smell I can vividly recollect. It was a sensual yet calming scent, the perfect accompaniment to a smiling soul, and one I cannot possibly describe.

Earlier this week I cooked spaghetti and meatballs for a Chinese colleague, and introduced him to Jerry Springer (I know, I should be shot for cultural genocide). The malty beverages consumed before dinner resulted in a chunky layer of burnt tomato sauce on the bottom of my wok.

The next day I scraped at the mess and decided the best course of action was to “bleach it.” I dumped some magic liquid into the pot, added water, and put it on the hot plate (Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble.) The mixture bubbled as I cleaned the rest of the previous night’s chaos.

When the bleach had done its job I dumped the contents into the sink. Then, it hit me.

I wasn’t in my kitchen in China anymore: I was in the sunny, summer camp kitchen where I spent my later adolescent years. Burnt food, pots and bleach were as regular as the PB & J we served. For a moment I could remember fighting over the music to be played on the battered CD player, the camp songs that echoed through the wood-framed building during mealtimes, the laughter, the stress, and the life-long friends I had made. It was a happy montage running through my brain on fast-forward.

Then it was gone, back into the recesses of my subconscious. I smiled a moment, cleaned the pot, and put it away. I can’t remember such a vibrant memory based on just a smell. In college, a psych prof lectured on the subject. I hit Wikipedia to remind myself.

The orbitofrontal cortex mediates conscious perception of the odor. The 3-layered pyriform cortex projects to a number of thalamic and hypothalamic nuclei, the hippocampus and amygdala and the orbitofrontal cortex but its function is largely unknown. The enterorhinal cortex projects to the amygdala and is involved in emotional and autonomic responses to odor. It also projects to the hippocampus and is involved in motivation and memory. Odor information is easily stored in long term memory and has strong connections to emotional memory. This is possibly due to the olfactory system’s close anatomical ties to the limbic system and hippocampus, areas of the brain that have long been known to be involved in emotion and place memory, respectively.

It was a strange encounter, but a pleasant memory. Those hidden gems in our psyches, and what pulls them to the surface, intrigue me. Burnt tomato sauce and memories of old friends made for an amusing Monday afternoon.