Garlic is a staple of kitchens around the world. But beyond its distinctive flavor and smell, the plant carries a complicated cultural history — one that three performance artists are exploring through an experimental theater project called “The Stinking Nose.”

Developed by Leonie Bell, Matt Korahais and Brandon Woolf, the project uses garlic as a starting point to examine how smell can shape cultural identity, reinforce social divisions and influence the way people relate to one another.

“The Stinking Nose” takes place Saturday, November 14, at 7 p.m. at NACL in Highland Lake.

The idea began with Woolf’s experience living in Germany, where he frequently cooked for people in shared houses. He noticed that guests would sometimes ask him to leave garlic out of meals because they had an important meeting or social engagement the following day.

Growing up in New York, where garlic was a familiar part of everyday cooking, Woolf found the requests surprising.

“When I was cooking, I would just put more garlic in the food because how could you sacrifice the taste? But this got me curious as to where does this come from? What is the sort of cultural allergy or cultural aversion to this seemingly harmless and totally delicious allium,” he said.

His research led him to a broader history of garlic being used to stigmatize and distinguish cultural groups, including Jewish and Arab communities in Europe and other populations around the world.

That history became a foundation for the performance.

Korahais says the project encourages audiences to recognize how garlic is woven into their own lives, from family and cultural traditions to local agriculture and the natural environment.

“Where is garlic located in your life?” Korahais asks. It’s a question that extends beyond food to personal memories, cultural history and the ways people interact with the world around them.

The artists say they are also challenging the conventions of theater itself. Traditionally, theater relies primarily on visual and auditory experiences. “The Stinking Nose” introduces smell and taste, asking audiences to consider what happens when those senses become part of a shared performance.

“What does it mean to sort of ask an audience to smell one another? Or smell with one another?,” Woolf said.

The production combines elements of traditional theater, dance, performance art, improvisation and food. Rather than following a fixed script, the artists adapt the experience to each venue and audience.

Korahais says audience participation and individual reactions are part of the creative process, including the choice not to participate in particular sensory experiences.

“We hope people get ‘garlic eyes,’ which is just again awakening to seeing where it is everywhere in your life, where it is in history,” he said.