Una Ragazza on Eat: Smells Like New York

Ah, the things that happen in New York.

This week, a congressman from the New York borough of Staten Island introduced a bill to make pine the “official scent” of New York. His case was that while New York had an official flower, tree, bird, animal, insect, fruit and muffin, there is no official scent to bring the state together. “And that stinks,” he said.

For a city still undergoing an economic recovery, the news was not welcomed by many. In fact, a Facebook page called “New Yorkers against PINE being the ‘Official Scent’ of New York” was created on the same day the news broke on April Fool’s Day (which the congressman denied was a joke).

The New York Times takes us on a walking tour of the smells of New York

If not pine, what then, do New Yorkers think should be the official scent of New York. Here are a few olfactory choices to get us thinking. If any one of these garner enough support, we may very well have to consider overturning the “pine bill.”

10. Bagels

The fresh smell of bagels puts a spring in my step on weekday mornings. Entering the deli a block from the office never fails to put me in a good mood. Beware -- avoid the onion or everything bagel if you're meeting with the boss in the next 4 hours!

9. Bacon and eggs

On weekends, I used to go for a run down the Westside highway when I was living in Chelsea, occasionally ending my exercise by ducking into a diner because I can't resist the sizzling sound and smell of bacon on the grill. Pair it with a bellini and good coffee and your weekend is set.

8. Pizza

In my opinion, pizza is one of those things to eat within minutes of it being ready. There are so many pizza delis in the city, and many with half-bought pies sitting on the deli counter for too many hours. Over time, I've learnt to either hold my breath while walking past a pizza deli or to quicken my foot steps.

7. Chinese takeout

Being Chinese, I'm certainly biased toward Chinese takeout. I eat more than my fair share of General Tso's chicken, fried rice and egg foo young, and am thankful that I have a door to my office at work so that I can spare my otherwise hapless colleagues who prefer a simple and odorless lunch of cereal, fruit and yogurt.

Tasty as it is, my attitude toward Chinese takeout is similar to that toward durians. Lovely to smell and eat while I'm at it; take it far, far away from me once I'm done.

Tip: throw away the leftovers in the office pantry, not in your personal trash can.

Durians -- lovely to smell, but only while you're eating them

6. Street meat

I was introduced to street meat within days of starting my first job in New York. The term is loosely used to mean any meat sold by street vendors, including hot dogs, kebabs and steak sandwiches. My favorite street meat vendor is Rafiqi's, a turkish kebab and meat-over-rice stall which is run by an enterprising Middle Eastern man with nearly 20 trucks around the city.

A crowd-pleaser is the lamb or chicken over rice. White sauce? Yes! Red sauce, yes!

For tip on post-meal disposal, refer to #7 above.

Rafiqi's: Reliable street meat serving Midtown (and elsewhere) for more than a decade

5. Coffee grounds

Coffee is a daily, necessary drug that transcends class, gender and race; students, the employed, and the unemployed all need this to power through our days. That means a ton (literally) of coffee beans are used, generating a staggering amount of coffee grounds. Since the city garbage trucks do not pick up trash on a daily basis, the resulting coffee smells -- fresh, stale and rotting -- is a rather permanent feature of the air we breathe.

4. Beer/Vomit

I'm terribly thankful that St. Patrick's Day makes its appearance only once a year, and that the accompanying madness is pretty much contained within that day. But when that day rolls along, the damage sometimes appears insurmountable. Working on Second Avenue in Midtown means walking by drunk people as early as during the lunch hour. Never mind that there are policemen around -- this is the only day of the year that they can drink in uniform, so don't venture too close to one if you're looking to make a complaint about the vomit splattered onto your pants.

3. Laundered suit

With apartment sizes as tiny as 300 or 400 square feet, most New Yorkers do not have a washer and dryer in their apartments, or even in their buildings. Many send their laundry and dry cleaning to the shops, which number in the thousands to serve the millions of office workers. The result is the smell of starch and laundry detergent in high-traffic subway stations serving the financial and legal businesses concentrated in the Financial District and Midtown.

2. Urine

Crazy as it may sound, in a city where apartments and office space go by the millions, New Yorkers still have to put up with the smell of urine -- from humans and pets -- in every neighborhood, even swanky ones like Soho and West Village. The worst places are in phone booths and corners of subway stations. I have personally witnessed more than my fair share of peeing men in both these locations. Time to install some public toilet facilities? I think so.

1. Garbage

Finally, garbage. This problem is usually worse in the summer, when the soaring temperatures cause the unmentionables in the garbage bags to disintegrate faster and emit more pungent gases. However, this recent winter has proven us wrong. Winter garbage can stink pretty badly as well, especially if the city waste disposal trucks don't pick them up for more than a week!

Trash piling up outside a bar-restaurant in Midtown

Have a better idea for an official city scent? Leave a comment, and state your case.

(Some pictures taken from the Internet)