So we were looking around shopping for homes and found out that homes owned by desis had an odd smell…as if the food that was cooked had been absorbed by the carpets and draperies .
So I was wondering…what are some measures one can take to prevent that from happening.
We have a good exhaust system in our current home. But in addition we do place box fans on the windows. We also have a good air purifier.
I use odor eliminating candles after cooking, reed diffusers around the home and plug-ins.
Any strong cooking such as deepfrying, etc., I try to do outside on my grill burner.
Vinegar zindabad … Just pour some in a bowl and leave it out in the kitchen area or where ever the odour is .. leave it for half hour …
It kills the odour … Also try burning Bukhoor ( found in the middle east) .. its a scent that refreshes the air .. I get my yearly stock from Dubai when i visit family. Its a life saver …
I have also seen desi ladies lighting a candle all through their cooking process , they say it has an effect on the food odour .. doesnt let it spread around the house .. Though i dont understand the phenomenon at all
^Seems like you're doing everything. We turn on the vent fan in the microwave, open the windows, use air refreshers, and cook outside in the patio. Went to Bath & Body Works the other day and noticed that they had air refresher sprays (never noticed them before). I like their wallflowers.
In addition to vinegar, I've also heard of baking soda absorbing odors.
Plzzz tell me what to do with the kitchen dustbin smell…i throw the garbage so regularly…use the hefty bag…keep it out in balcony so that it gets ventilated…but nothing seems to work…after sometime…the smell is there again!!!(i also try not to throw raw fruits etc in it but… )
I do nothing. Maybe I am immune to it but I cannot really smell anything weird or bad…there’s a garbage chute right outside our entrance so I throw the garbage away almost every day, especially when its raw veggies/fruit/meat, before I go to bed.
Since our place is so small, I’m concerned with keeping the bathroom and bedroom doors shut. But often times I’ll step outside my apartment and each floor smells like some different cuisine. I honestly don’t mind the desi smell, its the polish/russian food that smells yucky
Sounds like you are doing everything, keeping the windows open for cross ventilation is the best. You are so right about desi smells, god it drives me crazy. You can buy odour neutrlizing sprays from natural food stores, in my opinion they work the best, and use only natural essential oils. Candles are the other best friends, but none of this would work without ventilating the place properly.
Please don't let these smells distract from a good house, you can do so many differnt things to fix the smell thingi but can't fix the layout/other good features of the house. So always go with an open mind( AND CLOSE NOSE) and keep the property potential in mind.
Sounds like you are doing everything, keeping the windows open for cross ventilation is the best. You are so right about desi smells, god it drives me crazy. You can buy odour neutrlizing sprays from natural food stores, in my opinion they work the best, and use only natural essential oils. Candles are the other best friends, but none of this would work without ventilating the place properly.
Please don't let these smells distract from a good house, you can do so many differnt things to fix the smell thingi but can't fix the layout/other good features of the house. So always go with an open mind( AND CLOSE NOSE) and keep the property potential in mind.
agreed..
and realize that if its a great house, professionally cleaning the carpets would at best cost you a couple hundred, you will probably change the drapery anyway and if not those things can be drycleaned for cheap, rest of the stuff can be tackled with simple ventilation, leave windows open for a while and much of it would be gone.
My neighbors are chinese…and they cook and eat in garage. They have a 6 person dining table set for every day use and everything they cook and eat has to stay in garage and more over they never take their shoes inside home either……
I don’t like the smell of food in the house and it’s difficult to mask them smell of pungent masala’s. “A” calls me a ‘junooni’ but i’ve kept cotton-balls soaked in scented oils in all the pillows and cushions and inside the sofa covers. I drop scented-oil on my light-bulbs (lamps) when they warm-up it smells wonderful!
I spray bedsheets, covers, curtains with oud refreshner spray, burn oud and scented oils every evening.
During a dawat, we usually cook everything early and just heat-up the food. I place a tray of orange peels sprinkled with cinnamon powder in an oven set on ‘low’.
I wish there was a fast and easier way to really get rid of the desi food smells but I think the only thing works is leaving windows and doors open while cooking...the rest of the stuff only masks the smells! :(
What and how are you guys cooking??? Stinkies...
The only thing that I avoid cooking is fish because it stinks up the whole place but other than that I never had this problem. Ofcourse I practice the general cleaning and refreshning routine but thats about it. Well may be I don't consider smell of freshly brewed coffee, baked cookies, saffron, vanilla and cinnimon offensive. Allo ghost, tinday, matar, chawal etc do not leave lingring odors.
In fact I find too much scented oils, incecense burning offputting.
do people not use exhausts?
I have on of em glass and stainless steel vent hoods on top of the stove and running at full blast, it takes most cooking smell out. why cover it when you can just dump it out :)
I invested in one of those sooper-dooper exhaust hoods on top of my range just......it definitely does work.
I also burn candles for the duration of the time that I am in the kitchen. In fact, I have started to burn candles for the duration of the time that I am home. Keep in mind that these are not scented candles.....just plain candles. (Those that want to learn about how "burning" might clear the air look up what a flame needs in order to burn.)
I use fabric fresheners for all soft materials once a week and there are timed air fresheners in some key areas like the foyer and the kitchen.
I also have some "vent fresheners" that are filters placed inside the air ducts and have tried the kind that goes into the air filter in the furnace too. I don't find these to be very effective at all.
I don't like to mask smells......just prefer to eliminate them.....but I like the idea of boiling fruit rinds and cinnamon.......gonna try it.
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.. I am going to start doing that from now onwards .. thanks buddy 
