Smells like food studies
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15353/cfs-rcea.v13i2.822Keywords:
smell, olfaction, sensory studies, epistemologies, solidarity, care, allyshipAbstract
In May 2026, I was part of an international gathering at Rongo University in Migori County, Kenya, focussed on agroecology. We were about forty-five people, and the meeting included presentations, workshops, farm visits, and innumerable one-on-one conversations. In the lead-up to the meeting, I sometimes joked that we were all coming together to smell each other—my shorthand for spending time together in physical proximity. Despite having relationships going back more than a decade, the team mostly knows each other through Zoom. “Smelling each other” therefore meant learning about each other in more casual circumstances so that future communications could become deeper and more nuanced, including the how and why of our work, as well as the what. But “smelling” became more than a metaphor, and through reflection on past olfactive moments, I now suggest that the solidarity, care, and attention needed for food systems transformation demands multisensory engagement.
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Copyright (c) 2026 David Andrew Szanto
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