June 4, 2008

Europe | France, Paris | Italy, Rome, Florence

Scent-sational Feast

By Nicole Martinelli

Smell what’s cooking at this summer’s quirkiest dining experience.

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If, as some scientists claim, 80 percent of taste is linked to smell, you’d better follow your nose to Europe this month. Starting tomorrow, New York Times perfume critic Chandler Burr leads a series of scent dinners in Paris, Rome and Florence. Curated by Context Travel (who insist on calling their scholarly guides “docents”), the evenings are part lecture, part feast and part exploratory scratch-n-sniff. Burr, who is the author of The Perfect Scent: A Year Inside the Perfume Industry in Paris & New York, will focus on smells that come from edible sources such as herbs, spices, chocolates and teas, while fellow feasters will learn how to break down aroma structures.

The Paris repast is hosted at historic Lepérouse (pictured), established on the Left Bank in the late 1700s — around the same time the city became the perfume capital of the world. On June 10, you can sample the pantry perfumes in Rome at Casa Bleve, nestled into the ancient bath complex built by Marcus Agrippa to get in good with Emperor Augustus. The last dinner will be held in Florence on June 11 at the new Four Seasons residence club Palazzo Tornabuoni, where the fabled Medicis broke bread in the 15th century. And don’t worry about piling on the pounds at these four-hour gastronomic events: research says that if you wear a perfume with floral and spice notes, you’ll be perceived as four pounds lighter.