Mandy Aftel
Mandy Aftel
Mandy is the author of three books on natural perfume: Essence and Alchemy: A Book of Perfume which has been translated into six languages and was the winner of The Sense of Smell Institute's Richard B. Solomon Award. Aroma a cookbook (co-authored with chef Daniel Patterson) which focuses on the essential link between food and fragrance and includes recipes for both. Scents And Sensibilities guides the reader through the history and creation of solid perfumes.
Her work has been featured on CNN and in Vogue, Vanity Fair, In Style, Time, Body and Soul, Natural Health, Alternative Health, Gourmet, Bon Appetite, Food and Wine, W Magazine, Self, O (Oprah) Magazine, Allure, Health, Elle, and 7 by 7. She was named "best scent" in San Francisco Magazine's "Best of the Bay", included on the "it list" of perfumers in Perfumer and Flavorist magazine and was chosen as one of the twenty-five most influential people in perfume by Basenotes.net.
Class description:
Aroma: Recipes for Scented Food and Fragrance
Aroma: Click on the image to buy Mandy Aftel's book from Powell's Books.
Publisher Comments:
Turn a brilliant natural perfumer loose in a chef's kitchen and you get vanilla perfume, saffron, ginger, and blood orange bath salts, and a cucumber mist. Turn a brilliant chef loose in a perfumer's pantry and you get rose-infused steamed bass, peach jasmine sorbet, and scores of other startlingly original recipes using floral and herbal aromas.
Aroma permeates every cuisine, from ancient to modern, in every culture and at every level, but what this pioneering cookbook, by chef Daniel Patterson and perfumer Mandy Aftel, makes evident is that aroma, not taste, is our primary experience of food. Without aroma there is no flavor. By focusing on aroma, we intensify all aspects of food, and immeasurably enhance the experience of cooking and eating.
Creating Natural Perfume with Mandy Aftel
Mandy will discuss the history of natural perfume; how a perfume is constructed, and then demonstrate the creation of one of her perfumes.
Mandy's approach to creating artisan natural perfumes is based in the quality and integrity of the ingredients. Unlike most commercial perfumes, for each of her hand-crafted liquid and solid perfumes, she chooses from among more than five hundred of the finest natural essences found anywhere in the world, using organic or wild-crafted oils whenever possible. The all-natural fragrance materials that she works with are often expensive because she wants the creative freedom to use not just one or two but several in a blend.
Mandy will be creating her famous Parfum de Maroc and offering a book signing after the class.
This class may be registered for separately. Please see the registration page. We will also offer a book signing after her class and Mandy will have some of her intoxicating perfumes for sale!
This class will be held off site in the conference room of Traditional Medicinals ( 10 minutes from CSHS, California School of herbal Studies). See Map for directions.
