QUESTION

Riverdale, NY

If someone ages a steak unwrapped in their fridge and the food smells of a block of cheese that absorbed through the air over the course of a week and flavor the meat is that טעם כעיקר or is it ריחא לאו מילתא היא?

ANSWER

So this is the difference between מציאות reality and halakhic reality. ריחא לאו מילתא means that the smell that transfers has no halakhic status – so although there might be cheesy taste – halakhically it does not have the status of cheese or of טעם. See