Better smelling through chemistry: the study of tropical fruit aromas and olfactory training across fields

Abstract

This article examines how olfactory training became a site of scientific and industrial articulation in Colombia, tracing the history of a university research group devoted to studying the aromas of tropical fruits since the 1980s. Drawing on interviews, archival materials, and ethnographic observation, it situates the group’s work within the broader history of chemistry’s industrial vocation in Latin America. By following the collaboration between the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and a Spanish flavor and fragrance company, the article shows how learning to smell revived forms of sensory apprenticeship often absent from contemporary laboratory education. Rather than treating olfactory expertise as a remnant of pre-instrumental science, the case illustrates how science–industry partnerships can reintroduce embodied skills into laboratory life while rendering Colombia’s biodiversity both measurable and commerciable. Ultimately, the article demonstrates that the senses remain constitutive of technoscientific practice adapted to local contexts, even when instruments proliferate.