EYECARE: Coronavirus BRIEFING: Crisis Response Tactics What Happens When a Food Critic Loses Her Smell? By Staff Wednesday, March 24, 2021 11:30 AM After contracting COVID-19, Tejal Rao, a restaurant critic for The New York Times lost her sense of smell and found that her appetite had changed drastically. So how can Rao continue to do her job, which relies so heavily on both of those senses? Currently, she is participating in "smell training," the only therapy for loss of smell that's been proven to work. Head over to the Times to read more from Rao, or listen to Rao on the Times' podcast, The Daily.