Evolution of smell-does pork smell sweet to you?

A group of scientists at the University of Manchester claims to be able to show the evolution of the sense of smell through tracing the sensitivity to emitted by pork (and which is found in wild boar).

This is the study:
Global Survey of Variation in a Human Olfactory Receptor Gene Reveals Signatures of Non-Neutral Evolution

This is a link to the article:
http://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/article/?id=14799

"Most receptors can detect more than one smell, but one, called OR7D4, enables us to detect a very specific smell called androstenone, which is produced by pigs and is found in boar meat. People with different DNA sequences in the gene producing the OR7D4 receptor respond differently to this smell - some people find it foul, some sweet, and others cannot smell it at all. People's responses to androstenone can be predicted by their OR7D4 DNA sequence, and vice versa."


"For example, they found that populations from Africa - where humans come from - tend to be able to smell it, while those from the northern hemisphere tend not to. This shows that when humans first evolved in Africa, they would have been able to detect this odour.

Statistical analysis of the frequencies of the different forms of the OR7D4 gene from around the world suggested that the different forms of this gene might have been subject to natural selection.
One possible explanation of this selection is that the inability to smell androstenone was involved in the domestication of pigs by our ancestors - andostroneone makes pork from uncastrated boars taste unpleasant to people who can smell it. Pigs were initially domesticated in Asia, where genes leading to a reduced sensitivity to androstenone have a high frequency."

Well, all I can say is that if this is true, the 20% or so European ancestry in African Americans is enough to confer the gene mutation to the entire population, because their diet is extremely high in bacon, ham, and other pork products.

To me, pork smells like dead people. It scent is so noxious. If a restaurant across the street is cooking pig products, I can smell the noxious odor. Luckilly, in my religion, this foul-smelling flesh is forbidden.

The smell is exactly like human organs being cremated. Perhaps, it is because of similar proteins and active genes within humans and pigs. Also, pigs have a lot of bacterial infections in common with humans, like Spirochatae, etc. This could be due to a similar protein composition.

MtDNA said:

To me, pork smells like dead people. It scent is so noxious. If a restaurant across the street is cooking pig products, I can smell the noxious odor. Luckilly, in my religion, this foul-smelling flesh is forbidden.

The smell is exactly like human organs being cremated. Perhaps, it is because of similar proteins and active genes within humans and pigs. Also, pigs have a lot of bacterial infections in common with humans, like Spirochatae, etc. This could be due to a similar protein composition.

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Well, there's some SSA in certain areas of Iran, yes? Perhaps that explains it, since the Out of Africa population seems to have the mutation which makes the smell more attractive if these scientists are correct.

Angela said:

Well, there's some SSA in certain areas of Iran, yes? Perhaps that explains it, since the Out of Africa population seems to have the mutation which makes the smell more attractive if these scientists are correct.

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Well, there are certain populations with SSA in them, but according to my 23andme test results, the SSA admixture amount is insignificant to indicate ancestry (<0.5%). Perhaps, not all of the "Out of Africa" population has this mutation.

@ Angela

I can eat pork all day, and only pork

I don't like chicken,
I do not eat chicken from 14 years old,
it smells bably for me especially if is fat, and the skin,
it has 2 smells,
1) is like burning hair and nails
2) the fat smells so ugly to me, rotten bad quality butter to the oisophagos and antibiotic smells
sometimes the fat reminds me teramycin or ambicillin antibiotics, remember some pink colour liquid antibiotics, or yellow powder,

anyway i do not eat eggs also, except if they are in bread, cakes etc

but do not problem with pork, except if is a old male pig (testosterone smell)

This only confirms the saying "Use it or lose it". Similarly "familiarity breeds contempt". Constant presence of a smell, taste or sight tends to desensitize it. Why does one doesn't smell one's own gaseous flatulence? Because we smell our own body constantly and no longer notice it. Pigs are found in Asia and the temperate zones and became part of the human food chain. Their constant presence desensitize their smell in our nostrils. We sense change as our survival mode. In Africa the alpha predators, large herbivores and human hunters don't allow the wild boars to flourish so pigs are rare in Africa and the desert regions.

This also explains how spies blend into the environment. Their constant presence helps them to hide in plain sight. Does water have a taste? We don't taste water as we drink so much of it. It probably has a taste but we have been desensitized to it.

No, pork does not smell sweet, If it did I would not eat it

Lamb makes me get the "gripper" , throw up .....................maybe why living at home when young and living in my own home , we never ever cook it

MtDNA said:

To me, pork smells like dead people.

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Not necessary like dead people, uncooked it has a very strong odor like sweet "human flesh". But I find it disgusting might be, because I am not used to eating pork. But baken/fried it simply smells like normal meat having a sweet touch to it.

My favorite meat is Chicken. But only if baken or fried. I generally don't like my meat cooked in boiled water. I smell something "humanic" disgusting on it no matter which meat it is.

Alan said:

Not necessary like dead people, uncooked it has a very strong odor like sweet "human flesh". But I find it disgusting might be, because I am not used to eating pork. But baken/fried it simply smells like normal meat having a sweet touch to it.

My favorite meat is Chicken. But only if baken or fried. I generally don't like my meat cooked in boiled water. I smell something "humanic" disgusting on it no matter which meat it is.

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Vive la différence!

I absolutely love pork, my favorite meat by far, in all forms, but particularly cured. Chicken is ok although chicken breasts are difficult to cook without winding up with a dry, tasteless, slab of meat. (My father really didn't like eating much chicken either, although he always said it was because they were such filthy animals.) I can't stand chicken fat, however, and I've always found the smell of eggs repugnant. Most of my family liked them, so I don't understand why that is the case. When I was very little I would gag if I smelled them cooking (sulphur?), and the sight of my brother eating his beloved soft boiled eggs had me running out of the room.

Interesting how different we all are in these matters, even when raised in the same house and with basically the same genes.

I do think part of this stems not from this so called gene but from the foods to which people become accustomed.

I love pork unconditionally and chicken (dark meat) in any form and some organs included, I'm ok with beef, but lamb needs to be very young otherwise it smells bad from the old fat.
I love eggs too, they are delicious. However for the full taste all needs to be organic, raised on natural diet, otherwise it is almost tasteless.

I'm regretting that pork burgers and pork steaks are not popular in America. But maybe it is a good thing or I'd be eating more junk-food.

Going back to main post. I never smelled anything sweet, I can only taste sweet. So the concept is foreign to me.

Judging how people on the forum perceive tastes of meat, it could be a good example how our genetics influences culture, cuisine in this case, and what is kosher or not. Sense of taste is a strong force.

most favorite of all meat 'Ιταλοι' Italians



especially male grab/hands
female body/eggs
perfect at size of 30-35 cm from hand to hand

Yetos said:

most favorite of all meat 'Ιταλοι' Italians



especially male grab/hands
female body/eggs
perfect at size of 30-35 cm from hand to hand

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Crab is good, but I prefer crayfish, just the tail. I'm not sure how English confused it with a fish, lol?


If it comes to fish, I like mostly white meat fish, like Bass or Eel, but don't have much taste for Tuna or Salmon, unless smoked or in salad.

It is always interesting to read what others have to say about something I have yet to experience .
I don't know how pigs smell, for we don't have them here !
Raw meat usually smells nasty to me especially if it is fresh, when served , it all comes down to whether it was well-prepared or not.

AgnusDei said:

It is always interesting to read what others have to say about something I have yet to experience .
I don't know how pigs smell, for we don't have them here !
Raw meat usually smells nasty to me especially if it is fresh, when served , it all comes down to whether it was well-prepared or not.

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I'm not much of a cook to pay attention to the smell of fresh meat. Next time my wife prepares something from fresh meat I will taste and smell, and give my feedback.

MtDNA said:

To me, pork smells like dead people. It scent is so noxious. If a restaurant across the street is cooking pig products, I can smell the noxious odor. Luckilly, in my religion, this foul-smelling flesh is forbidden.

The smell is exactly like human organs being cremated. Perhaps, it is because of similar proteins and active genes within humans and pigs. Also, pigs have a lot of bacterial infections in common with humans, like Spirochatae, etc. This could be due to a similar protein composition.

Click to expand...

In some occasions pig's skin is burned to get rid of hair. This really smell awful. Are you sure you ever smelled just the meat?

LeBrok said:

In some occasions pig's skin is burned to get rid of hair. This really smell awful. Are you sure you ever smelled just the meat?

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Yup. Whenever I walk in the grocery aisles of some stores that carry non-halal items, if I walk in front of the deli section, the smell is obscene. I feel like vomiting, even though the scent is coming out of a sealed product. The scent is not as strong as it being cooked, however, it is the same, just in lower concentrations.

There was a guy with late-term syphillis at my school last year. He smelled very simmilar; I know that because he'd harrass me by pushing up against me, thus also forcing me to smell him. Although, such a smell could be due to their flesh dying.

MtDNA said:

Yup. Whenever I walk in the grocery aisles of some stores that carry non-halal items, if I walk in front of the deli section, the smell is obscene. I feel like vomiting, even though the scent is coming out of a sealed product. The scent is not as strong as it being cooked, however, it is the same, just in lower concentrations.

There was a guy with late-term syphillis at my school last year. He smelled very simmilar; I know that because he'd harrass me by pushing up against me, thus also forcing me to smell him. Although, such a smell could be due to their flesh dying.

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Interesting. I never realized that people can perceive smell of meat in so different and unique way.
Is the smell of lamb, never mind how old and how fatty, always pleasing to you?

LeBrok said:

Interesting. I never realized that people can perceive smell of meat in so different and unique way.
Is the smell of lamb, never mind how old and how fatty, always pleasing to you?

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I'm not annoyed by the smell of lamb or other meats. The smell of fish is only slightly annoying if its been in the trash for three days.

MtDNA said:

I'm not annoyed by the smell of lamb or other meats. The smell of fish is only slightly annoying if its been in the trash for three days.

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Sea food needs to be very fresh, otherwise I can't stand the "fishy" smell either.

LeBrok said:

I love pork unconditionally and chicken (dark meat) in any form and some organs included, I'm ok with beef, but lamb needs to be very young otherwise it smells bad from the old fat.
I love eggs too, they are delicious. However for the full taste all needs to be organic, raised on natural diet, otherwise it is almost tasteless.

I'm regretting that pork burgers and pork steaks are not popular in America. But maybe it is a good thing or I'd be eating more junk-food.

Going back to main post. I never smelled anything sweet, I can only taste sweet. So the concept is foreign to me.

Judging how people on the forum perceive tastes of meat, it could be a good example how our genetics influences culture, cuisine in this case, and what is kosher or not. Sense of taste is a strong force.

Click to expand...

I make pork burgers all the time, only here they sell them as pork patties. I also get the butcher at the local Italian food store to give me ground Italian sausage (from before they put it into the casing) and I make patties from them. It's a way of reproducing what in Italy we call "chiodo". Absolutely yummy.



I've never actually developed much of a taste for American style beef hamburgers. They're usually cooked too much for me, and I don't like ketchup. They can be good if made with really good quality beef and maybe some sauteed mushrooms, and maybe gruyere on top, so long as it's medium rare, otherwise it gets too tough for me.

When I go back home and go to my first sagra or local festa, the first thing I do is head for the porchetta stand...rolled, herbed, rotisserie cooked pork. All it needs is bread and a few pickled vegetables to accompany it and I'm happy.



You're right, chicken dark meat is tastier. I totally agree about lamb. We eat a lot of lamb where I come from, but almost never the meat from grown sheep or mutton. I don't know how other cultures eat it. To me it has such a strong, "gamy" taste. Even with lamb I only eat it if its made the Italian (and French) way...garlic, herbs, white wine...oh, and all the fat has to be cut away, because that's what carries that "strong" taste. Lamb chops with garlic, thyme and red wine is heavenly.


As for seafood, I never met any I didn't like. With fish it's a little different. We never ate salmon growing up, so I didn't like it. With all the reports of how healthy it is, I sort of made a concerted effort to eat it, and now I quite enjoy it. Most of the rest I like, except "blue fish" which they fish a lot in the Atlantic off Long Island. It's very oily and sort of "heavy" tasting.

Oh, organ meats...I'd never order them, but I don't find any food so disgusting that I wouldn't eat it (well, maybe insects). A friend I met in France used to love to make "rognone" or kidneys. I didn't have the heart to say I didn't really care for them.