# Foods that smell better than they taste **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 10, 2003, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-smell-better-than-they-taste/154184 "2003-02-10T20:18:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![gvsantos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e4f/32.png) [@gvsantos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gvsantos)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-smell-better-than-they-taste/154184/41 "2003-02-13T15:57:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zenith \* > \*\*Back in the olden days before overprotective bureaucrats decided that teenagers were too stupid and clumsy to operate potato peeling machines, McDonald’s and other chains made fresh fries that not only tasted good hot, but could be spread on a cookie sheet and rewarmed in your oven without tasting gross. I know, because I made thousands of pounds of these fries between 1966 an 1968. > \*\* That’s interesting. I guess I thought McDonald’s always used the processed fries that they use today. I read a while back that McD’s uses beef flavoring in their fries. I guess that really pissed off some people in India, not to mention vegetarians when they found out about that. I remember loving those fries when I was a kid but I can’t stand them now. Sorry, kind of off subject, I know. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tupug\_Anachi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@Tupug\_Anachi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tupug_Anachi)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-smell-better-than-they-taste/154184/42 "2003-02-13T16:06:25Z")
**Lemons.** My mouth is scrunching up just thinking about them. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-smell-better-than-they-taste/154184/43 "2003-02-13T16:06:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by badmana \* > **Cinamon…I remember as a kid putting cinamon directly onto toasted and buttered bread…yuk.** LOL, I did the same thing once. I guess I had never noticed that the cinnamon shaker my mom brought to the table with the buttered toast was cut glass and unlabelled, and that the jar of cinnamon in the spice cabinet was round and plain and had the word Cinnamon emblazoned across it. So one day when making toast on my own I used the labelled jar to make the toast - ick! Talk about nasty. My mom later graciously showed me where she kept the cinnamon shaker for toast, which actually contained a blend of cinnamon and sugar. Thanks mom! ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-smell-better-than-they-taste/154184/44 "2003-02-13T16:10:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CalMeacham \* > \*\* > Coffee doesn’t invariably smell wonderful. My grandmother’s coffee always had a metallic tang to the smell. I suspect she didn’t always wash the pot out afterwards. \*\* Or maybe she washed it too often. Unless she used one of those percolator thingies - I don’t know how they work. But my drip coffee maker carafe only gets washed with soap on Sundays. The rest of the week we rinse it with hot water but don’t actually wash it. Makes the coffee taste better. No really! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-smell-better-than-they-taste/154184/45 "2003-02-13T16:27:14Z")
Most Chinese food. It also looks better than it taste. ---
**Author:** ![rhinostylee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc79bd/32.png) [@rhinostylee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhinostylee)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-smell-better-than-they-taste/154184/46 "2003-02-13T19:50:55Z")
It’s not food, and it doesn’t smell good wither, but poop smells much better than it tastes. ---
**Author:** ![gvsantos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e4f/32.png) [@gvsantos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gvsantos)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-smell-better-than-they-taste/154184/47 "2003-02-13T19:53:05Z")
:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Nymysys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f6c823/32.png) [@Nymysys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nymysys)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-smell-better-than-they-taste/154184/48 "2003-02-13T20:51:09Z")
Another one for popcorn. Also, I immediately thought of baked beans. I’m not a big bean eater anyway, but the squooshiness and the blandness and the ugh when you taste them. Smells like summer heaven, though. ---
**Author:** ![GrandfatherTrout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f17d59/32.png) [@GrandfatherTrout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandfatherTrout)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-smell-better-than-they-taste/154184/49 "2003-02-13T21:09:34Z")
Coffee, sure. I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned tea, as well. You know, those crazy exotic tea tins (e.g. ‘mango-infused green tea’) that you invariably end up getting from relations at Christmas? They smell wonderful in all kinds of ways. But they taste pretty much like tea. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-smell-better-than-they-taste/154184/50 "2003-02-13T22:16:26Z")
Where I am there are these guys that sell candied nuts on streetcorners. These freshly made candied nuts smell absolutely marvelous, but taste no where as good as the smell. The almonds are OK. ---
**Author:** ![Juniper200](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@Juniper200](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniper200)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-smell-better-than-they-taste/154184/51 "2003-02-13T22:29:50Z")
I’ve never eaten a barbecue sandwich that tasted nearly as good as it smelled. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-smell-better-than-they-taste/154184/52 "2003-02-13T22:50:02Z")
Bad coffee smells nowhere near as good as good coffee. Brew yourself up some schmancy coffee (I swear here as elsewhere by Batdorf & Bronson), and the smell, combined with its rich, clear, ruby-tinted color, tell you that you’re getting something a cut above the burnt shit at McDonald’s. I’m mostly vegetarian – on rare occasions, when meat is about to get thrown out, I’ll eat it. Although meat smells wonderful to me, its flavor is always disappointing: it’s not nearly as savory as I expect it to be. Of course, I’m eating crappy meat; if I ordered a nice juicy steak sometime, maybe it’d be different. Daniel [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-smell-better-than-they-taste/154184.md?page=2)