The look on my face must have said it all, because the woman running a small Scandinavian store not far from Brussels burst out laughing. “Yes, it’s an acquired taste! But we, Swedes, are addicted to it,” she said, fetching a glass of water for me. The topic of conversation–and the reason I couldn’t stop myself from wincing–was a piece of jet black candy called salmiaklakrits in Swedish or salmiakki in Finnish, salty licorice. It’s a confectionery made with licorice extract and ammonium chloride that gives it an unusual saltiness–the more ammonium chloride is added, the saltier the candy tastes. Licorice is an acquired taste to begin with, but salmiakki is in a category of its own.

Besides the Nordic countries, salty licorice is also enjoyed in the Netherlands and the north of Belgium and Germany. People who love it are a passionate bunch and active proselytizers. If a Dutch friend casually suggests you try something called Dubbelzout drop, beware that you’re about to make the acquaintance of an extra salty licorice. I guarantee, the memory of that drop will stay with you for a long while afterwards. After your friend has delighted enough in your suffering, she will then pop the stuff in her mouth, make audible signs of pleasure and give you a smug–“my taste buds are so superior”–smile.

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Last year Bois de Jasmin held a Doctors Without Borders fundraiser, in the course of which we raised more than $6000 for this amazing organization. This year I would like to repeat it. It’s been a year of much violence and conflict, and organizations like Doctors Without Borders have shown incredible courage, despite risks and dangers. So, I propose donating to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, any amount you wish, and in return, you will be entered into a contest for a 15ml (.5 oz) of Dior Diorissimo Extrait de Parfum. I also have a brand new, sealed bottle of Serge Lutens La Fille de Berlin, and that too will be added to the drawing. Update 1: thanks to the generous readers, we have now two more prizes: vintage Chanel Cristalle EDT (70ml left out of the original 100ml, thanks to Reg) and Diptyque Volutes EDT (50ml, sprayed once, thanks to Rebecca). Update 2: we have another prize thanks to limegreen. Chanel no. 5 Parfum, 7.5 ml (opened but virtually full, in box, not  vintage but pre-2014 reformulation). There will be five winners.

It’s vintage, from the early 1980s, in my estimation, and it smells exactly like the original version I smelled on my mom as a child. The bottle has been opened, so I can attest to the quality of the contents. It comes in the original pink and grey box. I will make sure that it will be packaged properly for mailing; it has already moved across the ocean a couple of times with me, so I’m sure it will be fine for another trip.

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I like Belgian rain. It sounds like a strange admission, but there you have it. Partly, it’s because I don’t like summer and heat. Another reason is that rain is an inescapable fact of life here, and my choices to deal with it are either to follow the lead of the Belgian Santa Klaus and move to Spain or to complain nonstop. The former  is infeasible, and the latter is tiresome. Instead, I begin to think of rain as something with beauty of its own.

And beautiful it can be. The fine mist that often marks the beginning of Belgian winter has a pearly glow, transforming the familiar red rooftops of the city into an Impressionist etude of soft brushstrokes. It’s the kind of rain that fools you into thinking that you will be fine without an umbrella, but it drenches you in a matter of seconds. When you’re at home, with a cup of tea and a good book, this rain is romantic and serene. Turn off the email notifications, add a drop of an iris perfume like Chanel No 19 or Annick Goutal Heure Exquise–rooty, cool iris smells of rain, so it’s an ideal companion–and imagine that the world has just stood still, apart from the changing patterns of raindrops on the window.

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Does gourmand have to be only about cotton candy and caramel? In my article for the Financial Times Magazine, I explore whether there is room on the perfume counter for different flavors, including salty, piquant and savory.

Most savoury gourmands aim for a subtle illusion – the tangy darkness of olives, the green sharpness of coriander leaves or the musky warmth of basmati rice. Fittingly, the biggest savoury gourmand launch came in 2010 with Womanity (from £38.50 for 30ml, second picture), another Thierry Mugler creation. The composition is built around caviar and fig, the briny nuance pushing against a backdrop of roasted hazelnuts, musk and woods. Like Angel, it provoked polarising reactions, though not the same level of infatuation. To continue, please click here.

Do you have any salty or savory favorite perfume? Today I’m wearing Etat Libre d’Orange’s Fils de Dieu, which fits the savory theme well.

Photo via FT

One of my favorite stores in Brussels isn’t a chocolate shop. It’s not even a fabulous perfume treasure trove called Senteurs d’Ailleurs. It’s a supermarket at Rue de l’Escadron 35 called FreshMed. Technically, it’s not even in Brussels proper, but in Etterbeek, one of the 19 communes that make up the metropolis. It’s a store offering a vast selection of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean foods, with a smattering of Baltic and Polish products.

FreshMed isn’t a fancy store; it’s a place where the aesthetics are provided by the towering pyramids of fresh vegetables and fruits, not an overly creative interior design. I like this simple and unpretentious approach. Here you can find fresh tarragon and pomegranates, stock up on Greek retsina and Lebanese arak, and then load up your cart with homemade foods: tiny Syrian pies, Turkish-style pizza, hummus, tzaziki, olives and 10 kinds of feta. Then there are shelves of Iranian floral waters, Cretan dark honeys and Moroccan amber scented soaps. It’s a journey down the Silk Road within the space of a few supermarket aisles.

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