Sunday, March 27, 2011

American Smellscapes: Southwest Florida


Amy Bennett Williams at the News-Press interviews a few locals about the vivid smellscapes of Southwest Florida. My favorite recollection is from long-time resident Jeff McCullers:
“The long-lost smells of downtown Fort Myers when I was a child: fresh popcorn at the Arcade Theater and the Edison ‘Rocking Chair’ Theater, the leafy goodness of the Arcade Cigar Store, the bay rum gushing out of Happy’s Barber Shop, roasted almonds in the old fair exhibit building at Terry Park, and the pungent smell of hay, biddies, rat poison and sweet feed at Futral’s. The crisp tannin and fragrant moss of the Estero River. The heavy, syrupy smell of my grandmother making guava jelly.”
[Biddies is an old term for chickens, esp. hens. Had to look it up . . . –Ed.]

3 comments:

EdC said...

Avery,
Thanks for the link. The whole article is wonderful. And this is the first time in decades that I remembered the smell of peanuts, cashews and other nuts actually being roasted in our local Five & dime store. Nothing in a can compares to fresh-roasted cashews.

Avery Gilbert said...

EdC:

Now you've got me going. I'm having déjà smell for a small bag of warm, roasted nuts.

But where? When?

EdC said...

Ballpark?