Although I love Indian food and dislike eating in the break room at the other end of the building, I always eat potent curry dishes in the break room rather than at my desk. While I love the smell of curry, I know that there are people who definitely do not. Of things I never want to smell, though: reheated fish. Blech.

Ironically, the meal you've shown a picture of DOESN'T have a strong smell at all. They're all fairly mellow dishes. And I'm a little irritated that you chose to picture an Indian meal with the topic of stinky food.

I often bring indian food to work--and eat it at my desk. If I have to deal with the smells of greasy food (gross-smelling to me) and tuna (even more disgusting), then others can deal with the scent of my food.

My biggest pet peeve, however, is when someone will loudly question whose food smells so bad. I would never have such bad manners.

Very interesting. I feel that way about noise. I have a co-worker who types, talks and eats VERY loudly. I put on headphones, but I still hear her. Makes it almost impossible for me to concentrate.

Fish and (sorry ChicagoCook) Indian Food. Yuck. I know its your personal choice to have what you like for lunch but it really does affect others around you. Same way most people wouldn't smoke inches from someone who doesn't because it's invasive to the other person, why is it ok for them to make us smell their nasty smelling foods?

This is just like the food on an airplane topic on here a while back and I'm sure will get as many heated responses from people saying "don't censor my food choices" but if you're on the receiving end, it sucks. Plain and simple.

I've run the gammut of nasty lunch eating coworkers over the years. Currently, it's a grown woman who guzzles through a 6 pack of large energy drinks all day and eats a metric ton of dill pickles and and bags of chips for lunch. No weird smells their, but I still inches from her and if I'm trying to get work done the constant crunching and chomping on pickles gets a little nervewracking.

@ChicagoCook, the photo choice was not meant to insult Indian food. When I worked in an office, I used to regularly bring in chana masala and my co-workers often commented that it made them hungry. I'd call it pungent, not necessarily stinky.

If I could have found a decent photo of microwave popcorn or Burger King/McDonald's at a desk, I would have used it. Those are my food smell pet peeves!

Luckily in my small office, almost everything people make or eat smells amazing... and makes me SO HUNGRY! Yesterday it was sweet and sour chicken, I was dying it smelled so good. And we have a bbq out back, so the guys will often grill up some steaks and veggies. The problem is when they don't share!

At my last job, however, someone would make these microwave meals that just turned my stomach. We had a microwave right by my desk, in addition to some in the kitchen, which was no fun for smells.

The one thing I like but won't bring to avoid gross smells is tuna fish sandwiches. My boyfriend freaks when I try to make them at home, even!

I don't know if people like the citrus-y smell, but I like to bring oranges to peel and eat at work because the smell is really refreshing.

I don't work in an office--for school, though, I travel to different skilled nursing facilities and such to do swallowing evaluations, and I have to say, some of those places serve the most disgustingly smelly food. Turns me right off my own sack lunch. It was the same thing when I worked in a more typical office setting, but I'm so sensitive that even a frozen dinner made me want to gag.

Now I want Indian. YUM.
Honestly, of all the food I could smell in a confined space, Indian would be the one I would mind the very least!

My coworker eats a bacon sandwich at his desk most mornings, and as much as I love bacon, I am so sick of the lingering smell!

Most of the food I smell adults eating for lunch smells great. It's the elementary school cafeteria smells that REALLY get to me. Bologna and cheese puffs...gag!

Jeez, I miss France and Switzerland...

First of all, NO ONE eats at their desk. It is considered inhuman.

If the corporation does not have a canteen to provide workers their lunch, then they give them a stipend to eat at restaurants.

Oh, and with rare exceptions (the UN in Geneva for example, where people take very quick lunches as a rule), lunch is a 2 hour deal. Everything shuts down -- even big box stores! You may as well join 'em and enjoy it was my motto!

@ChicagoCooks - Lol b/c I had an inital reaction similar to yours too. But I think Anjali's comment clears it up. Plus, she's Indian so she gets a pass, right? :-)

I bring Indian food to work all the time along, and I don't think it smells. I don't think I should have to curtail my food just b/c it MAY smell offensive to someone else. The smell of bananas drive me nuts and make me ill. But I wouldn't expect others to refrain from eating them near me. Same with certain meats (I'm vegetarian). But I just deal.

Though I do try to be respectful.

Based on my own experiences (and the array of comments), I think it's interesting to see the smells that people love and hate. I love the smells of most of the foods I grew up (popcorn being king) but fishy smells get me every time, even when they're from own lunch! I don't bring fish for lunch anymore unless I have no other option- I'd even rather buy from the pricey downstairs cafe to smell leftover salmon for days.

Then throw into the mix Muslim colleagues who are fasting during Ramadan...they must be driven nuts by fragrant foods at work!

When I read this yesterday I had a hunch that this would reappear on thekitchn and I'm glad it did. I work on a trading desk and as a result, sit in very tight quarters alongside my coworkers. It doesn't matter what the smell is-coffee, syrup, indian food, burgers, popcorn-you are going to smell what others are eating. We all eat at our desks as the nature of our jobs just don't allow us to eat lunch elsewhere. I try to be cognizant of what I am bringing into the office but even I will bring in the occassional can of sardines or bowl of curry. And who's to say that the offended one isn't the offender at other times? It's all relative.

I share an office with an Indian co-worker and she brings homemade Indian food for lunch almost every day. The first thing she did when I moved into the office was ask if I mind the smell because if I did, she would eat in the break room. I thought that was very considerate of her but I don't mind the smell so I told her not to worry about it.

Now I'm wishing I had asked her to eat in the break room because she chews with her mouth open and smacks her lips--the noise drives me insane! Now I just take my lunch break at the same time as her to avoid the sound but I can't (aka: won't) eat in the break room either because while the Indian food smell doesn't bother me, the smell of my Korean and Iranian co-workers' food does.

I've ended up going for a walk on my lunch break and eating my lunch while I work after my break.

My husband says I'm ridiculous for going so out of my way when I should just ask my office-mate to eat in the break room. I know I'm picky and easily annoyed though; it's my problem so I shouldn't be inconveniencing anyone else, right? Plus, it has been nice to get out and enjoy the summer air and the peace and quiet! (My office is located outside of the city and is literally surrounded by farmland. Looks silly, but I love it!)

The absolute worst office food smell is BURNT microwave popcorn.

@whatyousay, going out of your way? i'd be kind of offended if you asked me to leave my own desk during lunch. bring headphones to work.

I feel very lucky, I had no idea this was such a problem. We did however, have a gal who was vegetarian and always brought lovely home prepared meals and heated them up at a certain time everyday. The smell was...unique, and I felt bad when the boss asked her to stop. I may not like it nor the others, but I couldn't help feel bad for her. I wish we were all just a little more tolerant.

This is something I have never had an issue with anywhere I have worked as far as me being bothered by smells, but I do have a co-worker who, after the first time I popped popcorn in the microwave, asked me not to do that anymore because she hates the smell. No biggie, I just pop it at home and bring it in.

I must say, though, that there is an attorney who comes into our office on occasion whose perfume we could ALL do without.

OK, now I'm hankering for Indian, Middle Eastern, and Korean. :)

I think being polite about what other people eat is an excellent opportunity to practice loving kindness and respect for others.

I am a bit irked when people leave things to spoil in the fridge, though.

My office is right next door to the kitchen and once in a while someone will heat up a Lean Cuisine (one with a lot of spices). The smell invades my office through the vent and takes forever to air out again. Other microwaved stuff doesn't seem to be a problem, but those frozen entrees - watch out!

@whatyousay ... oh man...you don't like the smell of Iranian food :(

I once microwave steamed some broccoli at work and it sent my colleagues in a frenzy thinking there was a gas leak. I was pretty offended by their reaction, but I ate my broccoli raw after that...

What I don't understand is why people are eating at their desks in the first place?! At the offices I've worked in, there is always a designated room for people to eat in. It prevents messes and gets people up from their butts for a few minutes at least! Eating at the desk just seems sad and strange to me.

@mschatelaine: that is greatly exagerated. No, not everything shuts down for two hours, especially not big box stores. I worked at a big store, we never shut down, but were open during the whole lunch time and so are most other big box stores and we didn't have two hour lunch but one hour. My fathers very small store is closed for 1.5 hour, not two and so are many other small stores. And people definitely eat at their desk, though not that often.

The thing is, it's not about smells being bad most of the time, but rather about their strength, staying power, and the context. I love the smells of Indian food, popcorn, citrus, etc. but I don't usually like them when I'm working. It's distracting to smell food when you're not in an eating mindset. And when it lingers all day long it can get sickening, no matter how great it smelled at first. I think lunch should not be eaten at one's desk if at all possible. It only takes a few minutes to go in the other room and eat your food and is generally healthier.

I don't mind lunch smells in the office now, because we generally all eat within the same hour or so--usually if I'm eating my own thing, other smells don't bother me.

But back in college, it was absolute torture to sit through my last class before lunch and be in the same room with students who brought food to class (a few profs were cool with it). True, I had the occasional granola bar to ward off hunger, but smelling someone's full meal when my stomach was rumbling and there was nothing I could do about it until class was over--that sucked!

This post should come with a warning: pregnant women with morning sickness, stay away! I'm all kinds of nauseated now. :)

Hormonal issues aside, I don't worry about what my coworkers are eating. We all routinely eat at our desks (bad, I know) and if somebody's food stinks to me today, mine will probably stink to them tomorrow. We are all careful to throw stuff away in another, unused room though. That helps a lot with smells hanging around.

Smelling Indian food puts me in a good mood. Makes me want to steal it right out of the microwave. ;)

The only smell that really does bug me is burnt popcorn. You can smell it way down the hall from the breakroom.

korean food.

I worked with a Taiwanese immigrant who brought a grapefruit in his daily lunch. It smelled wonderful in the office when he peeled it.

What I think helps a lot with the smell is to just not heat your food up too much. My lunch is usually garlicky or spicy, so I just zap it long enough to get the chill off, not enough to get it really smelly. And people usually tell me my lunch smells good, so I guess I'm doing all right. :) What gets me is when people bring in some kind of frozen fake food and microwave it for a solid 5 minutes, until it's WAY too hot to eat and the whole office smells like cooked cardboard. Yuck.

There are food smells that bother me a bit - nuked fish or eggs, & the burned popcorn. But, as some others mentioned, I am more bugged by the lunch room slobs, those who use use the fridge as their trash can, & snarky comments about others food.

Working at Ikea, we did have a staff canteen. I'd worked someplace with one before, and I did like it. Now I work in a small synagogue and if I'm not going out to eat with my boss, I try to bring my own. I don't feel comfortable eating in the conference room, since congregants use the space as well. And the whole Kosher thing makes me a bit stressed (as I may not be so strict with the rules). I always pack veggie, but I don't have a kosher kitchen, so I try to keep it under wraps. It sucks. Thankfully, I'm usually alone in my office, so I can stink it up. I've never minded strongly scented foods.

Eat whatever and wherever you like for lunch with the following suggestions:
(1) Please wipe out the microwave after you have cooked up your food to include popcorn. I don't think others should have to do this prior to cooking up their food.
(2) People absolutely know if their food contains garlic. Please trot along a tooth brush and tooth paste in your lunch bag and leave it at your desk so you can brush your teeth after you have your meal.
(3) Wrap your left overs tightly before you dispose of them in the refuse container in the kitchen area.
(4) Rinse out your plastic containers after you finish eating in the staff washroom or in the kitchen sink.
Open windows and turned on fans help over the lunch break as well. I have seen tiny little fans suited perfectly for office desks. Perhaps one of these would help those who are sensitive to the odours of others' food choices.

@kittystockings Some places DON'T give you a place to eat. I've been with the same company for three years in two buildings and both times our options for non-desk eating were the conference room which was occupied most times or picnic tables outside. In Florida. Where it's either so hot you can't breathe, or it's raining, or you're getting attacked by bugs.
So in the first building I would just go home and eat. But now since we're 40 minutes away from my house, I have to eat at my desk. No it's not great, but they tell us we should be happy we even have a job, so we're not going to whine.

kittystockings, I'd say most offices (in the US at least) don't have a designated place to eat. I'm not a fan of eating at my desk, but it is nice to work through lunchtime and be able to leave an hour earlier.

My food doesn't have much of a smell since I don't heat it-- most meals are perfectly fine at room temperature.

I think the smells that bother me the most are of the frozen meals that have a lot of preservatives. They have this odd chemical aroma that is not at all appetizing.

it isn't so much the smells, but I do have a huge problem with mouth sounds coupled with disgusting food. And when I say disgusting I am talking about microwaved Banquet meals, you know the ones that look revolting and contain zero nutritional value. How can anyone eat that!

The most revolting food smell is that of an egg salad sandwich. Knocks me flat on my back every time.

i miss my old job where people ate lunch in the break room, and people chatted about things outside of work. Here, everyone usually eats at their desk or goes out to eat, except me. I eat at our break room/copy room where people feel its ok to leave boxes and office supplies at the one table available to eat a meal. I guess its ok, since Im the only one who uses it. : / might as well since they leave dirty dishes in the sink and old food in the fridge. i started tossing out the expired food--steel/plastic container and all. there, i said it.

A pair of my co-workers used to bring meals that, when heated in the microwave, gave off a smell that one could only describe as the garbage pile behind a fish market on a hot day. It would permeate the break room, stock room, and even waft out to the sales floor. No one else could stand to be in there for the rest of the day.

Man I must be off, because I LOVE the smell of other people's food even if it is a TV dinner. I think it's the novelty of smelling something different than my own food. I've gotten many interesting recipes and many interesting food ideas.

The only smell I dislike is burnt coffee and burnt popcorn.

Fish sauce :(

While I occasionally am not a big fan of my coworkers' foodsmells, I think this is one of the areas in life where you can either learn to deal with it and stop caring, or get all filled with impotent stress about it to no real purpose (or, be the office douchebag and air your unwanted opinions to your coworkers). I am glad this is something I can easily just stop caring about, though I guess I would much rather be bothered by food smells than my regular old obnoxious, rude coworkers.

My office only has two kitchen rules: No fish or popcorn in the microwave. Now I see why.

Lol. I like this post. My boss burns a bag of popcorn almost every single day. And even though I am guilty of eating tuna salad at my desk when I smell someone else's tuna fish sandwich I gag.

Smells are annoying, but I tolerate them much more than I tolerate rude comments/questions about peoples' food. I used to work with a woman who would go into the break room several times a day and ask everyone who was eating why their food looked/smelled so disgusting. I don't know why she never got beat up.

Now I hate eating in the break room because my current coworkers' inane questions about what am I eating and where did it come from make me want to climb the walls, as do inevitable questions about what book am I reading and what is it about?

I always either eat in the empty conference room or in my car.