Imagine this:
Before you is a beautiful plate of fresh salmon, seared in an iron skillet, cooked through to perfection. The colorful side of stir-fry vegetables almost sings off the plate they are so alive. The combo of broccoli, cauliflower and carrots makes your mouth water. A slice of lemon is perched on the side.
You’re ready.
You’re almost salivating for this sumptuous meal AND you’re hungry.
You take the lemon slice and squeeze the juice all over the salmon and vegetables. Then you lift your fork and skewer a mouthful anticipating the fresh decadence.
And then…
Nothing.
No taste.
You can’t taste any of it.
Not even with the zing of lemon.
You chew, nonetheless, because that’s what you do with food.
Only the texture of what you’re eating is recognizable.
You suddenly notice there’s no smell either.
No smell.
No taste.
You realize your dogs no longer smell either.
Nor could you smell the essential oil you put on your wrist earlier.
The cedar chips in a pile outside don’t smell.
Nothing smells.
You finish the meal, because you are hungry, but it feels like you’re eating some virtual food made in some strange place where there’s no flavor and you only eat for the calories, well, because you have to.
You’re not entirely convinced that all is lost, so you go to the cupboard where the chocolate jar lives. Surely CHOCOLATE must still have a taste. It’s a flavor you know so well. You’ve been testing it for decades, diligently, day after day.
You pop a piece in your mouth.
Waxy.
“No wait,” you say to yourself, “there’s something. Is that a burnt taste?”
No, just waxy.
You try a different brand.
Melty.
In that moment, life turns bleak.
No smell.
No taste.
No chocolate.
Given your propensity for looking on the bright side, you begin to pray for your smell and taste to return. Suddenly, you desperately want to smell your old dogs, their slightly bad breath, their old dog scent.
You want to be able to do the “sniff” test on your clothes. Should you throw that one in the laundry or can you wear it again? Even more, you want to be able to smell your clean sheets, the essential oil of lavender wafting in the air from your diffuser.
The whole thing begs some questions in your mind.
“Do essential oils work if you can’t smell them?”
“If you lose the sensation of smell is it always a given that taste goes?”
“How will you ever cook again if you can’t smell or taste?”
You know you’ll have to wait it out to see how it all unfolds.
it’s now 13 days in on the CoVID journey and smell and taste continue to be elusive!
So, whoever you are, reading this, enjoy the smells and tastes you’ve got going on, no matter what they are!