# What do people in Asia smell when they have a stroke? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 8, 2017, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-people-in-asia-smell-when-they-have-a-stroke/776605 "2017-01-08T02:51:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-people-in-asia-smell-when-they-have-a-stroke/776605/1 "2017-01-08T02:51:37Z")
Before bread was really a thing in Asia, did Asian people smell, like, burnt rice or something when they have a stroke? ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-people-in-asia-smell-when-they-have-a-stroke/776605/2 "2017-01-08T02:55:38Z")
I’m pretty sure the phenomenon of food smells/tastes is associated with epilepsy, and it’s a lot more varied than just bread (a friend once told me it was tartar sauce for her). But your question is still interesting - I’d be interested to know how it manifests in different cultures. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-people-in-asia-smell-when-they-have-a-stroke/776605/3 "2017-01-08T12:49:00Z")
[Moderating] Although food is a topic for CS, this is really more about neurology, and hence better suited for GQ. Moving. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-people-in-asia-smell-when-they-have-a-stroke/776605/4 "2017-01-08T13:13:27Z")
You might be confusing this [Canadian Heritage Minute](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUOG2g4hj8s) about Dr. Wilder Penfield with actual [common signs and symptoms](http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/stroke/symptoms-causes/dxc-20117265) of strokes. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-people-in-asia-smell-when-they-have-a-stroke/776605/5 "2017-01-08T13:24:53Z")
Asia the place where wheat was first grown did not know bread? ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-people-in-asia-smell-when-they-have-a-stroke/776605/6 "2017-01-08T14:36:32Z")
Don’t know what the OP meant, but “not really a thing” doesn’t necessarily mean they didn’t know how to make bread, just that it wasn’t as popular/widespread. (Which could be wrong, I don’t know.) ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-people-in-asia-smell-when-they-have-a-stroke/776605/7 "2017-01-08T14:57:20Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Asia the place where wheat was first grown did not know bread? wheat originated in the Levant, not Asia. edit: n/m, I forget that the Middle East is part of the Asian continent. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-people-in-asia-smell-when-they-have-a-stroke/776605/8 "2017-01-08T15:42:57Z")
Tangentially, I recall reading once that when east Asians (Japanese, e.g.) have a near-death experience, of the figure beckoning them from the end of the tunnel, the figure is often described as a white European. The Levant is in Asia, but that is beside the point because it is obvious that the OP is talking about East Asians. FWIW, I think the modern Chinese eat more wheat than rice now. It woulod be usedful if we had a word for the people who ised to be called Mongoloid, but the current PC paradigm prhoibits any language that distinguished people by historical culture or geographical origin. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-people-in-asia-smell-when-they-have-a-stroke/776605/9 "2017-01-08T16:06:55Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Tangentially, I recall reading once that when east Asians (Japanese, e.g.) have a near-death experience, of the figure beckoning them from the end of the tunnel, the figure is often described as a white European. :dubious: … So they \*see \*white bred? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-people-in-asia-smell-when-they-have-a-stroke/776605/10 "2017-01-08T19:02:03Z")
[QUOTE=jtur88;19905016 The Levant is in Asia, but that is beside the point because\*\* it is obvious that the OP is talking about East Asians\*\*. FWIW, I think the modern Chinese eat more wheat than rice now. [/QUOTE] Errrr, no it was not. [QUOTE=The OP] Before bread was really a thing in Asia, did Asian people smell, like, burnt rice or something when they have a stroke [/QUOTE] Asia, Asians.No specificity as to region. Rice is eaten elsewhere in Asia as well. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-people-in-asia-smell-when-they-have-a-stroke/776605/11 "2017-01-10T19:37:08Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Errrr, no it was not. > > Asia, Asians.No specificity as to region. Rice is eaten elsewhere in Asia as well. He didn’t specify because he didn’t think he needed to. Usually when Asia is talked about in America it’s places like China, Japan, Korea, etc, not every single place on the landmass that technically makes up “asia”. If he meant somewhere else in asia besides the far east, it’s very likely he would have specified, not left it general. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-people-in-asia-smell-when-they-have-a-stroke/776605/12 "2017-01-10T19:43:00Z")
Having never heard of this, I had to google. Apparently there is a myth out there that during the early stages of a stroke, the victim will smell something like burnt toast (or sometimes burnt hair). It’s not _actually_ burnt toast, however. So, a person who never smelled burnt toast or had any experience with bread would smell exactly the same thing, but just not associate it with burnt toast. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-people-in-asia-smell-when-they-have-a-stroke/776605/13 "2017-01-10T20:05:05Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > He didn’t specify because he didn’t think he needed to. Usually when Asia is talked about in America it’s places like China, Japan, Korea, etc, not every single place on the landmass that technically makes up “asia”. If he meant somewhere else in asia besides the far east, it’s very likely he would have specified, not left it general. Yeah, it’s very rare to hear an American refer to South Asians simply as Asians. To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it. This is contrasted with, say, the way the word is used in the UK, where it is used quite or more commonly to refer to people from South Asia. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-people-in-asia-smell-when-they-have-a-stroke/776605/14 "2017-01-10T20:07:55Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Having never heard of this, I had to google. Apparently there is a myth out there that during the early stages of a stroke, the victim will smell something like burnt toast (or sometimes burnt hair). Yeah–I don’t know where I got the tidbit from, but I’ve always associated smelling burnt toast with having a stroke. Might be some pop cultural thing, but among my friends and I, it’s a known reference that smell of burnt toast = stroke. I had never even considered whether it was true or not. ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-people-in-asia-smell-when-they-have-a-stroke/776605/15 "2017-01-10T20:35:35Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > It’s not _actually_ burnt toast, however. So, a person who never smelled burnt toast or had any experience with bread would smell exactly the same thing, but just not associate it with burnt toast. They’re not actually smelling it, either, though. It’s a reasonable question to ask if the smell is specifically the one of burnt toast (which it’s apparently not, if you believe **HMS Irruncible’s** friend) or if there is some other unifying factor in the symptoms of the onset of strokes. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-people-in-asia-smell-when-they-have-a-stroke/776605/16 "2017-01-10T22:19:01Z")
I was going to just pop in and say that I had heard it was supposed to be the taste of key lime pie, but then I had to go googling. If you can believe the comments section of OOTS, there was an actual stroke victim that smelled burning toast as the stroke occurred, and this was one of the earliest data points collected to map brain function. Presumably, any sensory experience during a stroke would depend on the location of the blockage or rupture. I’d prefer key lime pie.