Ever hear of Swallow Magazine? Probably not. They've only published two issues in the last three years. Still they've won a few awards for their in-depth, geographic specific food coverage. (Issue one covered the Scandanavian food scene; issue two, the Trans-Siberian railway.) I have yet to read a copy, but a blog post on The New York Times points out it's nearly the size of a coffee table book.
I'm not sure why that makes me want to buy the next issue, but it does. Though not as much as the inclusion of an additional feature which may be completely new to the world of food journalism: scratch-and-sniff stickers.
Apparently there are 20 stickers throughout the magazine, and while I would guess that they mostly focus on the warm and earthy fragrances of central Mexican cooking, apparently not all of the odors are pleasant. I kicked the idea around the office to try and predict what bad smells might make it into the mag, but the game instantly got too morbid. We decided it might be more fun to offer up the smells of Dallas instead. With any luck Swallow Magazine just may feature our fine city next.
Ever smell the Trinity River after a few weeks of drought? The freshly exposed clay wafts of centuries old Texas run-off kissed lightly with the scent of freshly slaughtered pig's blood. Or how about those first few days of fall when the temperature drops below 80 degrees. I can almost smell the paraffin and sawdust of Duraflame logs now.
Eau de City Hall Council Chambers would feature cheap cologne and a strong top note of freshly shredded documents, while just outside homeless people's urine would evoke our fine, downtown city streets. Deep Ellum would be captured by the smell of hipster sweat and terrible pizza, while...
Oh I could do this all day. Check out Swallow Magazine and drop your own favorite stench in the comments.
