Ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics, the French are honouring their capital city in the most unexpected and delicious way, with postage stamps.

Nearly 600,000 baguette-scented scratch-and-sniff postage stamps have been created to celebrate Paris’ iconic boulangeries, meaning tourists can send a little piece of Paris to their -presumably – envious loved ones at home.

The stamps depict a baguette wrapped in a blue, white, and red ribbon and the text “La baguette, de pain Française,” or “The baguette, the French bread.” Painted by Paris-based artist Stéphane Humbert-Basset, the scented stamps release their aroma when rubbed or scratched, and proved a worthy challenge of Le Carré d’encre, a Parisian stationary shop responsible for printing the stamps.

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The bread-y scent is made using microcapsules, which rupture when scratched – hence the scratch-and-sniff. “The difficulty for us is to apply this ink without breaking the capsules, so that the smell can then be released by the customer rubbing on the stamp,” printer Damien Lavaud told the BBC.

The scented stamp, which cost around $3 was released late last week on the Feast Day of St. Honoré, the patron saint of bakers and pastry chefs.

The French bread, which received UNESCO heritage status in 2022 and must be made to very strict standards, is a staple of everyday life in France and has even left its mark on the recently constructed Olympic Village. An on-site boulangerie will bake baguettes for the athletes throughout the day, ensuring that carbo-loading is always top of mind. Same, to be honest.

Paris may be the city of love but when it comes to romantic gestures, Australia got in on the action first. In 2006, Australia Post produced its first scented stamps with the release of the scented rose stamp for Valentine’s Day. Flowers are nice, but bread is forever.

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