A leading historian of olfaction has called for formal education in smell recognition among schoolchildren, arguing that improved olfactory awareness could enhance wellbeing and deepen understanding of the world.
Dr Will Tullett, a Senior Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of York, highlighted how environmental pollution damages people's ability to detect and distinguish scents. He also pointed out that many everyday products—from margarine to car interiors and household furnishings—have been stripped of their natural odours and replaced with manufactured alternatives.
"There is an open question about what the proliferation of those kinds of synthetic scents in our daily lives does to our ability to discriminate between different smells,"Tullett said.
Why should schools teach olfactory skills?
Tullett believes systematic training in smell recognition should become part of the curriculum at both primary and secondary level, as well as in home environments. He advocates for exposure to a wider range of natural aromas as a foundation for developing olfactory literacy.
"I would love a world where at primary and secondary school people are taught to engage their noses,"he said, noting that similar training could occur at home.
The approach mirrors techniques used by professional sommeliers, who deliberately expose themselves to diverse scents to expand their sensory reference points.
"They'll go to marketplaces and they'll walk around and they'll smell everything. And then what they're doing is expanding their range of reference points. And then I think it's being able to compare and contrast and think about what are the similarities between different smells."
Research supports the connection between olfactory training and cognitive benefits. According to a 2026 study in Nature Neuroscience, learning reorganizes olfactory neural activity patterns to help distinguish important smells, suggesting that deliberate practice strengthens the brain's ability to process scent information.
How can smell recognition improve daily life?
Beyond academic interest, Tullett argues that heightened olfactory awareness offers practical benefits. Understanding smells can help people make informed decisions about food safety and sustainability—for instance, recognising whether food has spoiled rather than relying solely on expiration dates.
"A classic example here is food safety and food sustainability – smelling as to whether something is fresh or not and whether you need to bin it, rather than relying solely on a use by date, for example,"he explained.
The wellbeing dimension is equally significant.
"Lots of studies have shown that smells and our ability to enjoy them are crucially linked to our sense of wellbeing and that those who suffer from forms of smell loss, often the result of that is depression and anxiety and various other kinds of symptoms."A 2026 narrative review in Clinical Otolaryngology found that smell loss can have quality-of-life impacts comparable to major conditions such as Parkinson's disease and stroke, underscoring the importance of preserving and developing olfactory function.
Is smell really undervalued?
While advocating for greater olfactory education, Tullett pushes back against the notion that people fundamentally underestimate smell's importance. When prompted, most individuals readily share vivid memories linked to particular aromas, suggesting an intuitive recognition of smell's significance.
"You get this sense from people that actually they want to tell you about the role that smell played in their lives, and that they do know that smell is important. It's just that they're not necessarily given the opportunity, or equipped with the language, or even given a sense of confidence that they can talk about it,"he said.
The real challenge, according to Tullett, is not indifference but rather a lack of vocabulary and confidence to articulate olfactory experiences.
"The more we smell, the more we enlarge the vocabulary through which we can describe other things,"he noted, drawing a parallel to how sommeliers build their descriptive capabilities.
How has smell been misused historically?
Tullett's forthcoming book, Sniff: A History of Smells, challenges a widespread misconception that the past was inherently more malodorous than the present.
"The past didn't stink any more or less than the present. It just smelled different,"he said, emphasising that this distinction matters because smell has long been weaponised to mark social difference.
Contemporary examples abound. Landlords have refused to rent properties to people of particular ethnic backgrounds based on assumptions about cooking odours. Additionally, proposed legislation has sought to criminalise rough sleepers, often justified by complaints about body odours. These instances reveal how olfactory prejudice operates as a tool of discrimination.
"We should be both more self-aware of our attitudes to odours, but also more empathetic towards other people's olfactory preferences,"Tullett argued.
"Rather [than] instinctively using smell to build divides, a thoughtful sniff can help us get to know ourselves and others better."
What will 21st-century Britain smell like?
Tullett observes that smells are deeply tied to specific historical moments, contexts and places. He suggests that contemporary Britain will be remembered for the aromas of hand sanitiser, wildfires and water pollution—scents that define our era.
The shift in how we experience smell through time carries emotional weight.
"A wood fire is a nostalgic smell for many people,"he noted.
"But the smell of burning vegetation and wood will increasingly become not a nostalgic smell, I think, but a fearful smell."This observation connects to broader environmental concerns, as air quality directly affects both olfactory perception and human health. Research has shown that cleaner air improves children's respiratory development, demonstrating the tangible health stakes of environmental change.
What happens next
Tullett's book Sniff: A History of Smells was scheduled for publication by Yale University Press on 8 September 2026. He is due to deliver a public lecture on the subject at the Royston Pike Lecture Series event, taking place on Wednesday 7 October 2026 at 7:30pm at Riverhouse Barn Arts Centre, where he will explore the sensory journey through olfactory history.
Key Facts
- Environmental pollution impairs olfactory abilities, while synthetic scents in everyday products reduce exposure to natural smells
- Deliberate olfactory training—similar to sommelier practice—expands the brain's capacity to distinguish and describe different scents
- Smell loss is associated with depression, anxiety and quality-of-life impacts comparable to major neurological conditions
- Smell has historically been used as a tool of social discrimination, from housing discrimination to criminalisation of homeless people
- Dr Tullett will discuss his research at a public lecture on 7 October 2026 as part of the Royston Pike Lecture Series
