Ghastly Cooking Smells

It sounds like you are smelling natto, a fermented soybean paste (vegan) that Japanese enjoy having for breakfast. It has outstanding health benefits, perhaps a contributing factor to Japanese longevity. I find the smell unpleasant, but once you get past the smell, it tastes OK. I ate it often when I was in Japan for a couple of yoga retreats, and all our catered meals were vegan.

I don’t allow cooking. I blame it on the City - just tell guests that I have to get a special permit from the health department. I’m not lying, it’s true. But actually, I wouldn’t want guests cooking anyway, for the very reason you mentioned. Asian always cook strange smelling stuff. And I don’t want to have to clean up someone’s mess in the kitchen. It’s bad enough I have to clean the bathroom. lol

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For me it’s green peppers. Not because I don’t like them, or don’t like the smell, but because I have never cooked with them and when guests do it reminds me that I have to rent rooms because my husband died and now I have to smell strangers’ food in the evenings instead of eating supper with my husband. It makes me feel lonesome.

To be clear, this is not a complaint, nor an indication that I shouldn’t be hosting. Just a personal reflection. Maybe TMI.

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It’s strange but the only cooking smell I absolutely cannot abide is that of steamed broccoli. So much for clean vegetarian food. :slight_smile:

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I have a basement apartment that does have a kitchen with a hood vent, but otherwise isn’t terribly well ventilated. The kitchen, of course, is one of our big selling points. And a few times I have had people cooking very heavily spiced, ethnic foods at very late and early hours.

And it stinks up the top floor of our house, where we live. And it is also hard to get the smells out of the basement.

I’m sure the foods taste quite good most of the time, but it’s a little akin to burning popcorn at the office. I don’t love people smelling up the house, but it is a rare occasion. I don’t rate them poorly because of it. It’s just part of allowing guests to cook.

So I get where you’re coming from. I mean, I wouldn’t describe it as “ghastly.” It’s just cultural differences most of the time. But it’s definitely a downside on the rare occasion when someone stinks up my house with food.

And after all, one of the great things about being a host is meeting people from different countries and different cultures.

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Why don’t you just restrict cooking hours till say 9 p.m and not before 7.00 a.m. or whatever suits then you wouldn’t have people do this late at night/early hours.

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@Helsi I guess I would if it was a real issue. One time I had a family that cooked at the strangest times and I would wake up sick from my dreams because the scent was so strong. But that was months ago, and I haven’t had anyone else cooking at odd hours.

Anyway, we have lots of people who stay here because they want to eat cheap on work trips. If they have weird hours and need to cook at weird times, so be it. It’s really a minor issue.

@Ashb24 - You stated about the cooking smells: “It’s just part of allowing guests to cook.” [So true.]

@Helsi suggested that you “…restrict cooking hours…” [Actually a good solution.]

@Ashb24 - you replied: “I guess I would if it was a real issue…It’s really a minor issue.” [Okay - case closed.]

Brussel sprouts…

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Oh goodness me yes. In fact, any of those green-but-good-for-you things.

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My Victorian, maternal grandmother used to make us drink the water that cabbage and so forth had been cooked (to death…) in. Fortunately my brother liked it, so we used to trick her.

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Yikes, that’s awful! I know what you mean about cabbage that’s been cooked to death. When making Sunday lunch, my mum would put the joint in the oven and immediately after that put the cabbage on to boil. Where I’d cook cabbage for two minutes, my mum would cook it for two hours.

Sunday was the day when all the windows in the house steamed up thanks to the boiling vegetables.

We had someone buy some maple bars from down the street and they did something where they cooked them and burned it and the left a horrendous smell in our house that we are still trying to get out two months later!! :grimacing::flushed:

I bet they don’t turn the hood extractor on and leave the door open! Can’t you at least give times for cooking e.g until 10pm?

Great idea. Added it to our house rule.

My house, my rules and I once bent on rules for a guest for cooking. They cleaned after themselves. No biggie. I cook a lot of ethnic dishes and it may have smelled offensive to guests but they never complained. Perhaps there’s a site for airguests? Yikes! Maybe one of my guests have complained about me! LOL. But seriously, my intention is to enjoy my guests, not micromanage them. I have several guests who don’t always follow some minor rules but no harm no foul, they were still great guests. If I thought guests were angering me so much, I’d quit hosting.