If he's someone you occasionally stop and chat with, you can nicely ask that he turn on his oven's hood (if he has one) when cooking.

I lived above some friends in college whose hood was broken and could smell everything they cooked until the building's management finally fixed it. I didn't even notice the change until one day they called up and asked why I wasn't coming down for movie night -- it was because I used to wander down when I smelled their stovetop popcorn

A word of caution regarding the DIY Crockpot air freshener. It did the trick in terms of freshening the air. However, it is impossible (at least for me) to remove the baking soda residue from the enamel of the Crockpot. I wash, dry, then the crackly baking soda just comes back. I think it has soaked into the enamel or something. Its unusable now.

I used to use plain water and cinnamon (or lemon peel in the summer) simmered in a regular pot on the stove when I was in college.

@kwhit9tl: Have you tried the lemon/vinegar simmer method of cleaning your crockpot? I forget what we made last year that I thought had ruined the finish on ours, but the (somewhat vile) home remedy took care of it!

This is precisely the reason I don't cook this sort of food as often as I'd like! It gets into EVERYTHING. People who cook this food daily always smell of it, too.

white vinegar, water and cinnamon stick simmered on stove top gets rid of even the most stubborn smells. sure, while it's simmering, your house smells like vinegar, but that smell doesn't linger.

As a property manager I often have this problem with tenants from India, Pakistan & sometimes the middle east. (I honestly do not mean this in a derogatory or racist way, their food just uses a lot of strong spices that seem to sink into the walls & woodwork) After they vacate the properties stink even after being repainted & sometimes re carpeted before new tenants move in. I would love any tips.

BakeandBloom - I bet some of your best friends are from those countries as well. Good grief. If you are teh property manager get a vent hood for your tenants.

They have vent hoods heightsmom. If tenants choose to use them or not is entirely another story.

Don't be ridiculous! Cooking with lots of spices smells up apartments - it's a fact..there's nothing offensive about that.

If I cook Cajun salmon even with the range hood on my flat stinks for days. It's easy to imagine how it would sink into the walls & timber-work if I ate things like that every single day.

Man, now I'm worried that I'm pissing off my neighbors with all the curries I churn out (and it's not just South Asians doing it, I'm about as WASPy as they come). At least I own my apartment, so at the end of the day I don't have a landlord breathing down my neck about the "stink." I just really like spices! If my neighbors would just follow their noses upstairs and check it out I would gladly feed them...

I will try the vinegar trick, though. Do you have to do it every single time you cook? That could get really expensive over time, especially if you put cinnamon sticks in there.

its beyond gross. i have lived in my apartment 8 years and am desperately trying to break my lease the curry smell is awful i am sick to my stomach and wanna vomit when i wake up this is no way for a person to live. i need tips on how i can escape my hell my life has now become. i come home from a long day of work n smell the most disgusting smell in my own home. my furniture, clothing, jackets everything stinks. this is beyond anything i have ever had to deal with and am out of idea. I'm trying to get pregnant but worried the daily dry heaving from the smell will not be healthy,

mind u my curry cooking neighbors moved in 6 months ago, i had a good 8 year run now i cry every night trying to get out of this hell.

@Sweethrt28: I understand completely. I live above neighbors who cook heavily with Cayenne Pepper plus all the spices ever invented. They are from an East African country and although their food is wonderful it is not something that you want to smell over and over every single day. They also roast a lot of their spices on the stove and it smells like something burning all the time. It also gets into the carpets;drapes;closets and cabinets and the fumes drift up into my apartment all day and make me sneeze a lot.
I complained to the landlord and he put in a new over stove fan for both of us that is supposed to be vented outside but I have my doubts. Unfortunately these neighbors don't want to turn theirs on because it is "too noisy". I can't open my windows because the fumes envelope the entire building and so the smell just floats right back into my apartment. I have lived in my apartment for 33 years and have no intention or money to move. They just moved in 4 months ago. The Property Manager seems to think if they say something they will be guilty of discrimination. Since when does "cooking" fall under discrimination? They have no problem telling people about "unacceptable noise." If you get down to it someone could call that discrimination also since some cultures are much noisier than others.
I do not expect people to stop cooking what they are used to but they need to be sensitive to other people also. I have done everything I can think of to "adapt" without expecting them to change. But after four months of this it has become very difficult to be "tolerant". I tried to tactfully and calmly speak to them about turning on the fan when they cook but these particular people just told me to move if I don't like the smells.
Some of the things I have tried are:
Spraying Fabreze and other brand "odor eliminators" which is really bad for you and doesn't work.
I tried burning incense or candles which is also bad for your lungs. So stopped that.
I bought an expensive electric Air Cleaner which hasn't helped.
I turn on MY overhead fan to no avail.
I have boiled white vinegar/water/cinnamon sticks/orange peels etc on the stop top which does help a bit but since the fumes are coming into my apartment several times a day I have to constantly keep the pan full or it burns away.
I find that putting Vicks on the end of my nose helps but will probably find out that is bad for long term also.
I am also at the crying stage now. Completely frustrated and feeling helpless.
I am surprised more landlords aren't looking into how to resolve this since some strong odors also cause long term damage to their properties. People in apartments and condos really need to be aware of who they are sharing walls/ceilings and floors with. Cooking smells can be very volatile and one person or a family can completely disrupt the lives of everyone else just by what they cook.