Nele Odeur

Scent & Spice

Vergroot

Portrait Nele Odeur - by Wendy van Hardeveld

Met: Nele Odeur

Since my early childhood, I  have followed my nose, probably predestined by the surname Odeur [the French name for scent] given by my father, and the pronounced olfactory organ I got from my mother. After successfully completing an unconventional study, whereby I combined my passion for Latin-American cultures with an insatiable interest in ethnobotany and the close relationship between plants and people, I ended up in South America, where I conducted research into the knowledge, rituals, and herbal remedies of local healers and traditional midwives.

After three years filled with unforgettable adventures in the Amazon forest, I returned to the Netherlands with a bag full of stories, sensory treasures, and many ambitions. There I embarked on a new chapter in my life, further deepening my ethnobotanical knowledge  and immersing myself into a new but related field: namely, the influence of plants on the human sensory system and brain. By the end of 2016, all my dreams, passions, and ambitions converged, resulting in the creation of Scent & Spice: a knowledge and experience centre dedicated to ethnobotany, and the study of interactions between plants, the senses and the human brain. 

My company's mission is to promote people’s awareness about the often forgotten impact of medicinal, culinary, and cosmetic plants – and, more specifically, their chemical compounds –, not only on our health, but also on our feeling of happiness. In order to achieve this, I give courses and workshops, work as a guest lecturer at Wageningen University, but  I am also a public speaker, consultant, and trainer. Being a trained ethnobotanist, I have a profound, science-based knowledge about the application of plants. Furthermore, as a herbalist, I know how to process plants for use in daily life, and, being a storyteller, I can tell you all about it in an entertaining way. Authenticity, expertise, humour, and adventure form the pillars of Scent & Spice.

Contact informatie

  • Nele Odeur