Charles Spence wants you to have bacon anytime you want -- as long as you don't actually eat it. A professor of experimental psychology at the University of Oxford, Spence has teamed up with Strong Roots, a plant-based food company, to produce an arm patch that gives off the scent of bacon when scratched. Strong Roots founder Samuel Dennigan describes the device as the "world's first-ever meat patch."
Spence believes that if people smell bacon, they won't crave meat and will instead be more willing to adhere to a vegan diet. “Our sense of smell is strongly connected to our ability to taste," he said. "Therefore, experiencing food-related cues such as smelling a bacon aroma can lead us to imagine the act of eating that food. Imagine eating enough bacon and you might find yourself sated.”
Over the years, Spence has investigated the connection between smell and taste and says that up to 95 percent "of what we think we taste, we're really smelling through the retro-nasal smell that comes out to the back of the mouth when we taste food," he said.
Going vegan:
- People who eat only plant-based foods contribute only half of the carbon footprints of those who eat meat.
- Vegans are 30 percent less likely to suffer a stroke and 32 percent less likely to face heart disease than carnivores.
- In the United States alone, there are approximately 1.62 million vegans, with an average age of 42.