It had to happen. From somewhere, a sprig of parsley scores points right in your idyll. Someone hisses at the old oil in the grill coals. There’s too much lovage in the salad dressing. It crashes against the roast beef on the garden plate, the greasy river of herb butter that sparkles as it flows over the tender meat and gradually spills onto the lamb's lettuce. There is warm earth, but you don’t see it; the smoke from the fire turns towards your face, just sometimes for a moment. Then you stare again at the beef. And the butter, which becomes one with the lovage and solidifies on the lamb's lettuce.
***
Christopher Brosius hates conventional perfumes. Scents should be works of art, journeys we bravely embark on. "Smell evokes - far more powerfully than any other sense - the EMOTION on which [a] memory was initially formed," he quotes modern fragrance research. So it’s not about a photorealistic memory that a scent is supposed to create, but about the emotion on which the memory is built.
So what do we emotionally connect with a bunch of parsley that slides into the salad dressing with the herb butter from the roast beef, into a salad dressing with Maggi that drips onto a wood fire? What does it do to us when we sit for hours bent over the plate, so close that we can hardly perceive either the garden or the campfire, only the butter that slowly cools with the lovage? One can now delve into this.
You should send all of this in your application to Alfons Schuhbeck's cooking show production company as a restaurant & TV cooking critic... they’ll take you in a heartbeat! ... and now I’m craving a medium steak cooked with rosemary, please!!
Um... yes. The beautiful crazy world of perfumes, huh? But does the world out there really need such a simulacrum scent that brings emotions to life during a roast beef dinner...?
Thanks a lot for this amazing review, which I practically devoured :)
I was a vegetarian for a long time and plan to become one again, but your roast beef memories are bringing back my döner memories... very nice comment, just to my taste ;) Trophy
This creation really seems to be completely out of the ordinary, and I can't quite place it. I can't understand the reasoning behind wanting to smell like this... unless maybe I'm sitting by the campfire while grilling ;-)
... incredibly vivid and conveyed with the finest irony ... still, thanks for the barbecue invitation - but veggies are my meat! ;) ... really absurd this "fragrance"! ... bold journey or not ;)) ...
Another gourmand, once again. Your review provides wonderful inspiration on how one could meditate for hours over the scent memory of a barbecue evening. Disturbingly beautiful.
Hi there, what a lovely barbecue! Lovage butter on lamb's lettuce, with roasted earth croutons as an "amuse-bouche" :) I know 4 scents from CB I Hate and I have to agree with you: my emotions when recalling past events aren't the same as Mr. Brosius's... But he did send me a personal email years ago, which is comforting.
I read your truly delicious review with a growling stomach :) Who knew there were so many options! After pizza and sushi, roast beef is definitely my clear favorite in scents. Bon appétit :D
If someone like Christopher Brosius hates perfumes, whether conventional or not, I’m already skeptical when he creates them himself! The best part is definitely that these are presented, and you remember what you don’t need or how crazy the world can be in some ways! So, thank you for that!
There’s even bacon-flavored toothpaste! But I don’t need either, neither the toothpaste nor this scent. However, I could go for some roast beef right now :-D
After reflecting for a moment, I've come to the following conclusions:
a) Craving roast beef
b) Not in the mood for the scent
Well written, of course ;-)
Well, that's not for me... I don't eat meat anyway... and I definitely don't want to delve into why the artist connected such strong emotions with their grilling experience that they felt the need to create a fragrance. "I hate perfume" isn't really a good enough reason.
As a vegetarian, I'm fine with being "allowed" to fry meat for my family... I don't deny that these types of scents have a certain artistic value, but I still find them unnecessary.
Ha ha ha, yes! It's all very artificial... but it doesn't really make me think, it just makes me want to grill and stuff... I prefer these scents in real life. And Maggi is definitely a sin! ;-))
Hahaha, I'm cracking up. My husband sometimes asks about sausage scents, more as a joke. That there's actually something like this already? But I’m not really surprised.
I'm probably not pseudo-decadent enough for this different kind of gourmand, although I fundamentally agree with Brosius's way of thinking. It somehow reminds me of Joseph Beuys, for whom anything can be art if you declare it so. The definition of perfume as merely a pleasant scent is outdated. Anything goes as long as you like it. That's good. I would just have a problem if a roast beef with parsley painting sat next to me at the opera or on a plane. ;-)
It's definitely a special scent, and your review is, once again, wonderfully written :).
When I think of barbecue evenings, it brings joy to my heart; I indulge in the memories of togetherness. Even if I don't need the fragrance, the idea behind it is quite intriguing.
HaHa:-))
Maybe if you're really starving or just gave up on trying a vegan diet and decide to stick with meat and dairy... then it could become a totally euphoric memory...
Still, it's hard to imagine. #woodyallenneurotic!
... and now I’m craving a medium steak cooked with rosemary, please!!
Thanks a lot for this amazing review, which I practically devoured :)
a) Craving roast beef
b) Not in the mood for the scent
Well written, of course ;-)
As for the scent, I'll just say "Yuck" and thank you for the warning.
When I think of barbecue evenings, it brings joy to my heart; I indulge in the memories of togetherness. Even if I don't need the fragrance, the idea behind it is quite intriguing.
Fantastic review...
Maybe if you're really starving or just gave up on trying a vegan diet and decide to stick with meat and dairy... then it could become a totally euphoric memory...
Still, it's hard to imagine. #woodyallenneurotic!