Candle makers Cosy Owl asked its customers which scents make them crave a certain food or drink. The most popular scents overall, as suggested by customers, were cinnamon, chocolate, vanilla, coffee, bread, coconut and lemon.
Breaking the answers down into various categories, the results found that some of the most popular homely scents were chocolate, coffee, bacon sandwiches, cups of tea and apple pie. When it came to looking specifically at sweet treats, bakewell tart, candyfloss, popcorn, cookies and salted caramel were all mentioned numerous times.
Cocktail-inspired scents also featured heavily, with pina colada (pineapple & coconut), gin & tonic (lime), Pimms and mojito (mint), and mulled wine being the most popular. The comforting nature of baking also found cinnamon, vanilla, freshly baked bread, lemon and almond were all highly favoured.
Following on from these customer suggestions, Cosy Owl consulted with expert Rebecca Lockwood to dig deeper into the connection between scent and cravings, and see which scents can actually trigger a physical response, and why.
Rebecca Lockwood, a Neuro-Linguistic Programming Trainer, commented:
“The psychological connection between scent and cravings is because of an olfactory anchor created from the smell and the internal representation we then create in our minds that then leads to the wanted behaviour – cravings.
“The specific smells that make us crave certain food is very much dependent on the individual and down to personal preference. This is because we all have a different model of the world and we all filter information based on our experience of external events, our values, our beliefs and the way we perceive the world.
“For example, someone may like doughnuts and the smell of warm doughnuts baking could cause the cravings, whereas other people may not like doughnuts and so it doesn’t trigger an internal representation of anything – they may not even notice the smell. It’s individual to each person based on each person’s likes and dislikes.
“By changing the way you think about something this can change and suppress the cravings because it changes the behaviour. If you were to take something that you like and change your internal representation of this into something that you dislike, this would suppress the cravings.”
Richard Fewings of Cosy Owl also commented:
“With many families stuck in isolation, we think turning to some of the UK’s favourite food smells is a great way to get excited about food. Whether it’s the scent of chocolate, vanilla or perhaps coffee that gives your tummy the grumbles, why not explore these popular scents that can certainly kickstart your taste buds into gear.”
Cosy Owl has created a designated fragrance oil category for cravings, based on the scents that make us hunger for certain food and drink types: https://www.cosyowl.com/candle-making-supplies/fragrance-oils/cravings
