Especially after COVID-19, many people have become aware that a loss of the sense of smell causes many problems in everyday life. In particular, the enjoyment of food and the ability to cook are affected.

Alexander Fjældstad from the Flavor Institute (Aarhus University) and the Clinic for Smell and Taste Disorders (Regionshospitalet Gødstrup) together with chefs Christian Bøjlund and Rasmus Bredahl have created a course on how to make everyday food with pleasure after you have lost your sense of smell.

The cooking school is the first initiative (both nationally and internationally) to focus on the enjoyment of food by the many people with loss of smell (15-20% of the population) and has resulted in recipes and guidance for flavourfull cooking despite loss of smell.

Eating is one of the most multisensory things we as humans can do. Although the sense of smell is important, especially basic taste, mouthfeel, sight and hearing also come into play when we prepare and enjoy food. By improving the ability to stimulate the other senses, the cooking school not only brings home a number of good recipes, but improves the ability to optimize all dishes to give pleasure despite the loss of smell.

We specifically work with basic taste, texture, tactility, trigeminal stimulation and temperatures ("The 5T's"), which overall make the food an interesting and delightful sensory experience.