Perfume is Pleasure

I’ve been trying to spit that out for over a year. This week as we sat around The Connecticut Forum, thinking of ways to juice-up Food for Thought, Sandy told us what just happened to food. Read what Mary Eberstadt has to say, or Prudes at Dinner, Gluttons in Bed, by George F. Will. This clears the way for my news.

Perfume culture isn’t just for those who spend their free time debating the virtues of Mysore sandalwood over the Austrailian variety. It is also for the 12 year old from North Carolina who wrote this to me:

“Dear Laura Donna,
My name is Christa. I live in North Carolina. In my science class we are doing a year long project. I chose my subject on perfumery. I know there aren’t really any one or two sentence answers to my questions but i was wondering… how does perfume have different fragrances? what are some main things mixed into it? Any information would really help. You don’t necessarily have to answer those specific questions. Thank You for taking your time into reading this… Christa”

It is also for the woman I called when a workshop was snowed out - you never know what burning questions a student might have. Her husband, when they courted, had warned her off “that smelly stuff you spray on,” and she abstained for 50 years. Now, in his honor, she wanted to know: “Do they make perfume in a lotion or cream?”

Avery Gilbert put it to me this way: It is time to bridge the gap between “perfume island and the rest of smell world.” Stay tuned for perfume edutainment! Start by thinking about all the good things you’ve smelled today, or plan to.

If you are still catching up on food, contact Sandy or any of my friends at the Forum for your tickets to hear Alice Waters, Duff Goldman and Anthony Bourdain with local Connecticut hero/radio personality/author/four-time Forum moderator Colin McEnroe.