[wingmark]

Hi,

Sometimes when I watch tv like the food network and they're cooking sometimes I get a whiff of the food. Once I was watching Rachel ray's show and she was cooking something and said "I wish there was smell-o-vision" and I suddenly got a whiff of the food she was cooking. Why does this happen to me? Also if I think about about something I smell it like it's there with me. Why does this happen?

Regards

[dory]

You have a very vivid imagination. Smell is an extremely important and often overlooked sense. It is very closely linked to memory and to emotion. Of course we taste mostly through smell. I read recently that while our culture tends to overlook the importance of smell, when people lose their sense of smell they feel very disabled and often seriously depressed. In many cases people respond more dramatically the author (a biologist specializing in smell-- can't remember her name, and don't have the book at hand) claims that the depression from loss of smell is more dramatic than that from loss of vision, although you would think loss of vision would change lives more dramatically. I can really understand how someone who was very creative and imaginative could smell food mentally while watching it prepared or reading a recipe.

I wish I found more programs on the Food Network where I found the food appetizing. The only cook I like any more on Food Network is Ina Garten, and she is on rarely and at odd times. We don't get the Cooking Channel, but I could search for it on Hulu if it was worth it. Does anyone watch this network? Is there anything worth watching on it?

Dory

[KYHeirloomer]

The Cooking Channel is a mixed bag, Dory. None of the shows produced specifically for it are anything more than reprises of those on the Food Network. Indeed, many of their contest losers now have shows on Cooking.

The bulk of them, however, are reruns of the days when Food Network was worth watching, and shows they bought the rights to. Several of them come from the Canadian version of Food Network. And they have reruns of things like Julia Childs' shows.

Just some examples: Molto Mario, originally from FN. Chuck's Day Off, originally from the Canadian version of FN (and exponentially better than the knock off staring Alex Guernawhatshername). And Julia's Kitchen, which they bought from whoever actually owns it.

So it's a matter of looking them up and deciding which ones you'd find valuable.

Taken as a whole, though, I'd say it ranks closer to the what FN originally was than not.