TIPS FOR HOW TO savor the season, despite taste or smell loss
By Stephanie Feuer
Holidays can take on a different flavor when you're navigating smell or taste challenges. All that emphasis on meal preparation and eating can dim the holiday joy and make celebrations a source of stress. When the intimate connection between scent, memory and emotion is severed because of smell disorders, some of the holiday magic dissipates.
Still, there are meaningful ways to reclaim enjoyment, despite taste or smell disorders.
Finding Your Path Forward
I had always been an excellent cook, and enjoyed trying new recipes. That changed after my post-viral smell loss. Cooking became a challenge. Sometimes I’d under spice for fear of overwhelming a dish, other times I’d crave a trigeminal kick and poured on the hot sauce or ginger, to the detriment of the balance of the dish for everyone else.
I eventually learned that when my ability to smell and taste eluded me, I had to follow my tried-and-true recipes exactly. That works to your advantage if you’re cooking for the holidays, where traditional is valued.
There are some tricks you can use to find enjoyment in your traditional holiday meal, even with taste and smell loss. A multisensory approach to cooking and eating can help to make your dining experience appealing again. And, adding some elements that engage all the senses will make your holiday meals more enjoyable for all.
Here are some strategies to try:
Eye candy: Eating isn't only about taste—visual appeal matters tremendously. Not only is a rainbow of colors on your plate a healthy way to eat, eye-appeal feeds satisfaction. The presentation, tableware, and cutlery all contribute to the overall aesthetic of your meal, making dining feel more special.
Elevated texture and mouthfeel: Explore different textures like creaminess, bubbles, and crunch in your dishes. These physical sensations add interest that transcends taste.
Temperature variations: Hot and cold contrasts can be surprisingly appealing and add dimension to your dining experience.
Trigeminal stimulation: Ingredients like mint and capsaicin can stimulate the trigeminal nerve, creating sensations of coolness or heat that register independently of taste and add genuine interest to a dish.
Tactile connection: Hand-held foods create a physical connection with your meal that can enhance the overall experience.
Beyond the Plate
Sometimes taste and smell disorders add unwanted emotional elements to holiday gatherings.
It’s easy to feel down when you can’t enjoy what others are savoring. It’s natural to feel left out, even to ask “why me?,” especially post-Covid when some family members had Covid but only one suffers from long-term smell loss. For people with taste challenges because of health conditions or medications and treatments for those conditions, that illness is accentuated by the any experienced taste distortions. Parosmia, too, adds an unpleasant challenge. Onions and garlic in the turkey stuffing or frying oil for Hanukah latkes can be torture for someone suffering from parosmia, making being in the same room as these odors difficult. Knowing your “safe” foods, and sometimes a pair of nose plugs, can be helpful.
One way to mitigate the emotional impact of taste or smell disorders during the holidays is to fashion activities that engage your other senses.
Ideas to Consider
Sound: Create a playlist of top tunes from the year everyone was born, or pick songs that were popular when everyone was in high school and play name that tune.
Image: Create a collage of family photos, or look through old photo albums or videos. You can create a game by blowing up sections of photographs and have your group guess what or where it is.
Movement: Organize a nature walk, go for a bike ride or run, or play ball.
Conversation: Play Twenty Questions or interview the eldest members of your gathering about what has changed during their lifetimes.
Connection: You may find comfort in connecting with others who experience smell and taste loss.
· Chrissi Kelly, founder of AbScent, now moderates the ckos Network. It’s a free, private group through which she offers information, support, and events.
· If you like to connect on social media, there are Facebook and Reddit groups devoted to taste and smell loss. Here are links to the largest, active ones:
Acquired Anosmia and Parosmia Support Page
COVID-19 Anosmia Loss of Smell and Taste Symptom Monitoring
-Here are two of the active communities on Reddit:
Holidays can be complicated for people with taste or smell challenges. Try to remember that your experience is valid and your struggles are real. Despite that, there are ways to participate fully in the season's joy—even if your path looks different.
The holidays are about connection, tradition, and celebration. With creativity and self-compassion, you can find your own way to embrace them.
Have a tip you’d like to share with others who suffer from taste or smell challenges? Send it to: stephanie@tasteandsmell.org.
