# New York Smells (Manhattan)



## diond (May 19, 2015)

Hi All,

We were talking at work about food and the subject turned to calzones. I mentioned that the best calzone I had was in New York, but I couldn't really say why it was so much better, it just was. But then I remember walking around Manhattan and smelling that distinctive food smell around almost every street corner. It wasn't necessarily aromatic nor particularly inviting, but it just smelt, well, New Yorkish and nothing like I have smelt in any other town or city of the world.

I've done a search on t'internet, but can't seem to find anyone else who has expressed similar experiences / thoughts.

I realise that it's probably a combination of the subway , street vendor food, pollution and such, but I'm wondering if food is cooked with different oils / fats, and if so, what is it?


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## editor (May 19, 2015)

I can't define it, but I can tell straight away when I'm in NYC: the smell is unique!


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## pogofish (May 19, 2015)

Yup!  

I think its the sheer variety of different foods/ingredients/cooking methods venting into a rather small space.

Plus of course a rather hefty amount of traffic/transit and people smells.

Makes for an interesting mix!


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## not-bono-ever (May 20, 2015)

The NY subway is one of the the most disctinctive smells I know

The other was generic Lysol , around 42nd street "businesses" & the Port authority , back in the late 80s/ early 90s


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## davesgcr (May 31, 2015)

Steam - dry heat and a sort of "bagel / dry Pretzel " smell - very unique. 

In the mid 1980's - many of the subway stations reeked of urine and stale , pooled water. Even busy ones like W4th on the A and C lines ..


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## toblerone3 (May 31, 2015)

Good to enjoy the variety of smells. If we all insisted on completely clean air, that state of affairs would be based, to an extent, on anxiety.  As it is we breathe in a vast array of chemicals in the air and have no idea of the health affects. Bit of a lottery, but generally speaking people are quite robust and that's life.


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## Epona (Jun 1, 2015)

I've never been to New York, but appreciate that places have different and distinctive smells.  For me one that really stands out is Cairo, very very dry heat and dust and sand and spice stalls in the bazaars lend the place a very memorable and pleasant aroma, especially in the parts of town where there is less in the way of car exhaust fumes.


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## alsoknownas (Aug 3, 2015)

I know exactly the smell you mean - it's kind of bitter and a bit floury.  I wonder what it's main contributing factor is?  I'm guessing pretzel stands?  Something weird related to the subway vents?

Even though it's not a particularly pleasant smell, there is something pleasing and reassuringly Noo Yark about it .


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## Boris Sprinkler (Aug 3, 2015)

The first thing that struck me about New York was that it fucking stank. Not food, just trash and sewer stink


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## davesgcr (Aug 9, 2015)

Boris Sprinkler said:


> The first thing that struck me about New York was that it fucking stank. Not food, just trash and sewer stink




Were you ever there in the 1980's before a "clean up" started (I love NY etc) - the subway and a lot of streets - especially the Lower East side stank of freshly deposited urine (and worse) ...? !


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## phildwyer (Sep 7, 2015)

I'm in NYC today.  Just caught a whiff of crack cocaine in Tompkins Square, just like the old days.


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## Idris2002 (Sep 7, 2015)

You're so edgy, phil.


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## phildwyer (Sep 7, 2015)

Idris2002 said:


> You're so edgy, phil.



On Canal St now... Definite odor of roast dog in the air...


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## Idris2002 (Sep 7, 2015)

phildwyer said:


> On Canal St now... Definite odor of roast dog in the air...


Ballardian.


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## phildwyer (Sep 7, 2015)

Idris2002 said:


> Ballardian.



Now I'm on Clinton and Stanton, which stank of dope 20 years ago... Now it's Sushi fumes...


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## Idaho (Sep 7, 2015)

Didn't find that nyc had a distinctive smell. Hong Kong, however...


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## phildwyer (Sep 7, 2015)

2nd and C now... Still smells of chorizo, at least some things don't change...


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## twentythreedom (Sep 7, 2015)

Varanasi in India has the most amazing range of aromas - sewerage, rotting rubbish, burning corpses, charas, incense, etc etc etc 

One smelled, never forgotten


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## Idris2002 (Sep 7, 2015)

Phil is actually typing this from his front room in Aberystwyth, of course.


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## skyscraper101 (Sep 7, 2015)

I have often thought about the unique smell of Manhattan. I remember the first time I visited and smelling this unique kind of sweet smokey food-ish smell that I haven't ever experienced before.

I like it. It really makes you feel like you're in a unique place, which you are.


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## phildwyer (Sep 7, 2015)

Idris2002 said:


> Phil is actually typing this from his front room in Aberystwyth, of course.



Right, where's a webcam...


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## catinthehat (Sep 7, 2015)

The smell of sulphur in the air and in the water here in lots of places is lush to my nose but some visitors hate it.


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## Idris2002 (Sep 7, 2015)

phildwyer said:


> Right, where's a webcam...



Hmmm. . . does a brief glimpse of the "real" phildwyer await?


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