what's that smell?

This question has been gnawing at me on and off for days. Yeh, it's hot (100) and I'm stuck indoors and am trying to find things to do...but still, the question persists. When we were in Taos, we went to a natural foodstore, which wasn't named as such, it just said "Cid's Market" or something. I knew that it was natural but didn't let on, due to the mutinous character the older children take on when taken to such stores. So I said "it's just a market", but Noah said he would know as soon as he walked in because all natural food stores have the same smell. Sure enough, it had the smell . And sure enough, they all have the smell. Even Wholefoods has it to a degree. So my question is: what is it? I really have no idea. I can't identify it. So if you know, one of the mysteries of the universe will be solved, at least in my own mind.

Comments

[Arthur]

"Natural" = "No Preservatives," right?

Ergo, "the smell" = "decaying foods!" - Naturally decaying foods, mind you, but decaying none-the-less. Please note that I do not mean "rotten foods," merely foods that are in their natural state which allows them to SMELL like natural foods instead of the aroma-less, preserved, processed-to-death, (literally,) garbage North Americans have come to call "food."

Same smell exsists in farmers markets that are held indoors, especially those that sell produce grown locally and organically without all the chemical interventions of the factory farm.

Personally, I LOVE that smell!

[cheryl]

I honestly hadn't considered that. I also have never been to an indoor Farmer's Market (they are all held outdoors where I have spent most of my life). So the only place I have ever smelled it is at the natural foods stores. Interesting. I don't think I will tell my children what "the smell" is. But I thank you Arthur for putting my mind at ease by answering one of the mysteries of the universe.

[Arthur]

Since we live in "The Great White North," many of our farmers markets are held in venues that have both indoor and outdoor stands.
I have noticed that in the usual Grocery stores the produce section is almost odorless... What else would I expect when I come to think of it? Most produce sold in stores is picked prematurely, (before it ripens,) and shipped hundreds if not thousands of miles to wholesalers. Only then is it bought by some purchaser for a retail outlet, and is often as tasteless as it is odorless.

Same goes for baked goods... Baked and packaged in factory bakeries with enough chemicals to preserve the human body for generations... Wonder Bread never gets mouldy! It may harden to the consistency of an adobe-type brick after a couple weeks, but it will never go mouldy!

Been to the local meat-market lately? Bleached chicken and dyed-red meats? Now, compare the odor in that store to a real Butcher Shop.

Again, I hasten to add that the food isn't "rotten." It merely smells the way food is supposed to smell!