As Americans Eat Less, Food-Inspired Scents Trend Hard

Forbes

29-03-2025

Goodbye Santal33. Hello, tropical fruits, rice and potatoes.
A Cornell study published at the end of 2024 revealed that there has been an 8.6% decline in spending at fast-food chains, coffee shops, and limited-service restaurants, and households with at least one GLP-1 user cut their spending on groceries by around 6%. The grocery items taking the biggest hits - chips, cookies and other baked goods - bear similarities to the scents that are trending.
Even if you're not on GLP-1s, none of us hasn't noticed that 'thin is in' means 'food is out.' Is the pressure enough to make us want to smell (or smell like) the things we're being told we shouldn't be eating? Is it possible that we as a culture are creating proxy experiences for eating through scent? I asked two perfumers, one perfume blogger, one therapist, one dietician, and a beauty industry reporter to give me their hot takes.
Polish Potatoes by BohoBoco
Though I'm a seasoned critic of diet culture (of which GLP-1s are certainly a part) and a plus-size woman recovering from years of food restriction, I will not profess to be a scent expert. I'm a humble, new fan to PerfumeTok. My bathroom sink is lined with everything from Kilian to Ranger Station, from Rita's Car to an off-brand bottle of creme brulee body spray that I got at Marshall's one time. Due to writing this article, I am now $26 poorer having purchased a Snif sample perfume pack that has four scents, including one that smells like pizza.
I'm not on GLP-1s, and am glad I have the option to smell like a slice because it sounds fun.
Further, it's only fair to point out that smelling good – whether it's through gourmands, florals or woody smells, like the iconic Le Labo Santal 33 – is timeless and driven by many forces. Additionally, designer brands are no longer the only perfume game in town. We seem to be in a perfume renaissance right now with unprecedented access (and demand for) playful and experimental scents, as well as smells that go beyond the traditional European canon. Finally, There is no singular answer to the question, 'What scents are trending?' Nor is there a simple answer to the question, 'How does a scent trend happen?' As Yosh Han, perfumer and Creative Director at Scent Trunk, put it, 'You can't separate scent from culture. How perfume engages with our entire life is much deeper than most people are aware of.'
Many would say that connecting scent trends to GLP-1s is a stretch. However, as someone who studies diet culture and knows intimately how it touches unexpected parts of our lives, there's something about croissant-inspired perfume emerging during a weight-loss trend the likes of which we haven't seen in two decades, that raises an eyebrow.
'You can't separate scent from culture. How perfume engages with our entire life is much deeper than most people are aware of.'
Yosh Han is a perfumer and Creative Director at Scent Trunk
In a November 2024 WhoWhatWear article titled, 'Scent Experts Say These 4 Major Fragrance Trends Will Define 2025,' columnist Kaitlyn McClintock wrote, 'Gourmand perfumes (aka, sweet scents with 'edible' notes like chocolate, cream, sugar, vanilla, etc.) are having a moment. Actually, that's not true. It's more than a moment. They've been having a year.' In January, Elle published an article titled '5 Perfume Trends to Watch in 2025,' asserting, 'In 2025, scents are continuing in a decidedly delicious direction. Most of the big fragrance trends revolve around food."
Gourmands aren't exactly new. We all know about the ubiquity of vanilla scents, for example. This new iteration of food scents, though, brings in a veritable feast of smells that go beyond the traditional gourmand territory, like milk, matcha, toasted sesame, tropical fruits, and croissant.
'I definitely think that the popularity of food-inspired beauty products, and gourmand scents in particular, speaks to a sublimated desire for the things we don't or won't eat in the age of Ozempic,' says Jessica Defino, a beauty reporter and author of The Review of Beauty newsletter. 'I even got a press release the other day for a 'lickable perfume' (called Late Night Gelato) from Amorecco." Defino said it reminded her of the early 2000s beauty brand, Dessert Treats, by Jessica Simpson. 'All the body sprays were edible and tasted like cookies or ice cream, and this was right at the time when ephedra weight loss pills were a huge cultural phenomenon. So yes, it seems striking to me that gourmand and even edible scents are trending now and were trending when the last big new weight- loss technology was popular.'
'..it seems striking to me that gourmand and even edible scents are trending now and were trending (in the early 2000s) when the last big new weight-loss technology was popular.'
Crumb Couture is a croissant-inspired scent from Snif
As we got deeper into his interview, however, he wrote, 'When food consumption is decreased, there may still be a desire for the sensory satiety, comfort and familiarity that eating brings. You may consume less chocolate, but wearing a gourmand fragrance can serve as a decadent and sensory substitute."
Terry Carter, CEO of Travertine Atelier
The conversation with Carter had unexpectedly stirred up childhood memories of my aunt, a lifelong dieter and weight cycler. I could always tell she was starting a new diet because, in addition to eating noticeably less, she often asked me if she could smell all my food before I ate it at dinner. I wanted to talk to someone who understands the relationship between restricting food and feeling compelled to substitute tasting with smelling.
I reached out to Signe Darpinian, a therapist and certified eating disorder specialist with over 20 years of experience. Interestingly, her words echoed Carter's. "We have evolved to need to have pleasure with our food," says Darpinian. 'A person can feel the physical sensation of fullness without feeling the emotional and psychological pleasure of satisfaction. People need and crave both.' Darpinian concluded that you can't really trick the brain. Fullness without pleasure is incomplete. This lop-sided reality might lead to seeking alternative methods – like using the sense of smell – to attempt to access that emotional side of eating.
'A person can feel the physical sensation of fullness without feeling the emotional and psychological pleasure of satisfaction. People need and crave both.'
Auntie Anne's Pretzels scent Knead, Eau de Pretzel
Wendy Sterling is a dietitian, who further explained the connection between food restriction, smell and pleasure. 'When the body is in a state of energy deprivation, whether due to an eating disorder, dieting, or medications that suppress appetite, the brain becomes hyper-focused on seeking food. Scents and flavors become more intense.' Sterling says this can lead to people scrolling through food reels on TikTok or lingering by bakeries. 'It's the brain's clever way of urging someone to eat while tricking them into thinking they have experienced pleasure.' She says it's all part of our hardwired drive toward survival and nourishment. 'The olfactory system plays a key role in this process, as smell is deeply connected to taste and the brain's reward pathways.'
Though Darpinian's and Sterling's words spoke to a clear connection between food deprivation and smell, I wanted to see if that connection could be more clearly extended to the gourmand and food scents trend. I returned to Yosh Han and Christina Loff, author of the perfume-focused Substack 'The Dry Down Diaries.' Loff was skeptical. 'Gourmand scents have been growing in popularity for years, well before (GLP-1s) entered the public conversation or even existed. I'm not convinced there's a true correlation.' Han, on the other hand, was more open to the possibility. 'Maybe you're not able to eat a croissant, but you can still enjoy the smell of a croissant.'
'Maybe you're not able to eat a croissant, but you can still enjoy the smell of a croissant.'
By the end of my interviews, I found myself settling into three conclusions: that the GLP-1 trend has affected how Americans relate to food, that food restriction can affect how humans relate to smell, and that what we want to smell (and smell like) is related to this cultural moment, which is defined, in part, by the GLP-1 trend. Where and whether those conclusions intersect depends on your vantage point. The next time you reach for that perfume that smells (and possibly tastes) like a freshly made buttery pretzel, let me know where you stand.