Scents of place

By Sybil Kapoor

I walk along the beach at Seasalter in Kent, watching the wind whip froth from the grey waves, and try to focus on the smellscape. The cold breeze carries the unmistakable scent of seaweed strewn along the muddy shoreline, then changes to damp vegetal odours as I drop down behind the sea wall and head towards The Sportsman, a Michelin-starred pub that was voted Britain’s top restaurant in 2016 and 2017. I push open the door and am hit by a blast of warm air, heavy with beer, food and people.

Once I am sitting at an old wooden table, I forget the exercise of consciously sniffing my environment and focus on the menu. I order the slip sole in seaweed butter – a small, skinned sole grilled with homemade, unpasteurised butter that has been seasoned with sea salt and tiny flakes of dried sea lettuce from Seasalter beach. As I eat, the buttery flavour deepens and my mouth fills with the intense aroma of the seashore. It’s pleasurable but momentarily disconcerting: I have a strong sense that I am “tasting” my walk.