Odorama: The Good Taste with o.a. dr. Marieke Hendriksen

Food and drinks are not consumed for their taste alone. Did you know wine was not always meant for enjoyment but was also believed to cure mental and physical illnesses like headaches and melancholia? What other (un)conscious processes are involved in constituting taste? Come join us for this pre-christmas edition of Odorama to sip on a historical feel-good wine within the aroma of a famous (invisible) Christmas tree and find out!

Taste and the senses

Taste is not isolated at the the tongue or in the eye of the beholder. Moreover, it stands as a sensory amalgam. On this crossroads, what constitutes good taste? Or rather, who determines good taste and with what criteria? Before we settle down at this year’s Christmas table and indulge in easy sensorial stimulants, this edition of Odorama takes a historical-psychological route into the psychology of smell and taste.

Marieke Hendriksen

Wine has not always been used solely for its rich taste and other benefits. In the 18th century, a lot of wine was of poor quality, and was used for medicinal purposes. This cheap wine was often sweetened to make it more accessible. Historian of Art and Science, Marieke Hendriksen, is interested in the materiality of past medical sciences and researches the way in which ordinary people made their own medicine. Curious how this tasted? During this Odorama, Marieke invites the audience to taste some of these medicinal wines together.