It’s surprising, but there is a universal smell, which pleases everyone on the planet, that of vanilla.
Researchers from the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom, arrived at this conclusion by testing the olfactory preferences of volunteers living in all climates, with varied lifestyles, rural and urban. Note: they all share the same aversion to an olfactory cocktail made up of the smells of cheese, the soles of the feet and perspiration. When there are exceptions – because there are people who don’t like the smell of vanilla and others who like when it smells like feet – they are never cultural, but very individual.