The Vanilla Mystique

Sweet. Sexy. Bold. Bland. The evocative scent of vanilla is everything, everywhere, all at once.

- By Parizaad Khan Sethi

My grandmother was known to abandon mundane tasks midway to whip up a sweet treat. My brother and I were often enlisted in these missions and entrusted with a brown-hued bottle of Viola vanilla extract. In anticipation of the imminent sugar high, we clumsily splashed in more than instructed, which Amy Mama, as we called her, never minded. Cakes and puddings would get a heavy dose, but so would chocolate milkshakes, iced coffee, even oatmeal. We lived in Mumbai, and though Indian desserts are customarily spiced with cardamom, saffron, and nutmeg, Mama's kheer and gulab jamun were vanilla-forward.

To me and millions of others, the smell of vanilla is code for home, comfort, and belonging. "Vanilla is one of the few scents that is universally enjoyable," says Richard L. Doty, director of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania's Smell and Taste Center. "A large part of that is due to conditioning, since it's in a variety of desserts."