Communication lors du colloque ‘Olfactory knowledge: Learning through smell from the 18th century to the present day’ – Parfums de racines : soins, expertise olfactive et savoirs féminins dans la cuisine anglaise au XVIIIe siècle

à la Maison française d’Oxford, le 22 octobre 2026

13h30 – 14h00: Tassanee Alleau, Université de Tours / CESR
Scents of Roots: Remedies, Olfactory Expertise, and Women’s Knowledge in 18th-Century English Cooking 

This paper proposes redefining olfaction and knowledge of roots as key epistemological tools within the 18th-century English domestic sphere. Analyzing women’s cookbooks by Eliza Smith, Hannah Glasse, and Ann H. Cook, it demonstrates that smell was not merely a practical sense for masking meat odors or guiding distillations, but a form of technical and medical knowledge codified by women. In contrast to the male-dominated scientific sphere of the era, which prioritized sight and
instrumentation, mistresses of the house elevated the nose to the status of a ‘natural reagent.’ They used it to ensure hygiene, distinguish quality spirits from foul residues, and prepare vital remedies.
This tacit knowledge of scents and roots, though difficult to verbalize, constituted a distinct feminine expertise situated at the intersection of cooking, pharmacopoeia, and perfumery. Finally, we examine the implicit clues regarding these practices by analyzing concrete gestures and historical modes of transmission.

au sein du panel « Savoirs médicaux et vernaculaires / Medical and Vernacular Knowledge » – Auditorium – Chair : Marie Thébaud-Sorger, CNRS / CAK

Plus d’informations : https://www.mfo.ac.uk/events/conference-olfactory-knowledge