SINGAPORE – When her mother started asking her to smell and taste the food she was preparing in 2021, Ms Tiong Jia En did not think anything was amiss.
“I thought it was normal… or she just wanted to include me in the cooking experience,” said the 20-year-old.
But by 2023, Ms Tiong, then a first-year student at Temasek Polytechnic (TP), had learnt that her mother had anosmia – loss of smell that can be partial or total and, in some cases, permanent.
Acquired anosmia is often caused by viruses like COVID-19, which Ms Tiong’s mother contracted in 2021.
Ms Tiong realised there was something wrong with her mother’s sense of smell when she asked her to smell perfume, among other things, and her mother confirmed she couldn’t.
This inspired the TP student to focus her Diploma in Product Experience and Design final-year project on creating a smell retraining kit for people afflicted with anosmia.
As a design student, Ms Tiong did not have much knowledge about smell and scents. She said: “I was a bit worried that I might not be able to achieve the results I want, or fully be able to advocate for them because of my lack of scientific background.”
