Smells and how they trigger memory and emotion

I happened to be delivering something to a local pub recently. It's a mass catering food venue rather than an old style boozer.

As I walked out of the door, I caught a blast of air from the kitchen area.

In a moment I was transported back almost 40 years to a school meal hall.

In a split second an emotion of comfort was triggered in me. A warm feeling of being cared for...followed almost immediately by deep concern, low level anxiety and a feeling of unease.

A smell triggered a memory and then an emotional response (rather a stream of emotional responses) all within a few seconds and all without a conscious thought from me.

I wonder how many people realise just how powerful the sense of smell is in evoking memory and thereby emotion.

It was my own Proust, "Remembrance of Things Past" madeleine moment.