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Looking for the word that describes a plethora of various aromas/odors....in the same vein as that wondrous word "cacophony". At lunchtime, the office is filled with these scents emanating from the cubes, a mixture of all possible ethnic cooking... we are at a loss to describe this .... Any help?
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a plethora of various aromas/odors
Melange comes to mind, although it doesn't refer specifically to smells.
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Anonymous
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i suppose you could call it an esculent potpourri 
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If the smell isn't so crash-hot, I would suggest miasma. I've always liked that word, I have. 
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Wouldn't a miasma imply something more physical than just a collection of odours? To me it implies something almost palpable like a mist or fog.
Bingley
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a plethora of various aromas/odors
Melange comes to mind, although it doesn't refer specifically to smells.Why not smelange?
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Miasma is a very expressive word, in Spanish it also means the spray emitted when someone sneezes.
Referring to your question we could coin a new word “cacosme/cacosmic”. It sounds well to me.
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Bingley wonders Wouldn't a miasma imply something more physical than just a collection of odours? To me it implies something almost palpable like a mist or fog.
Yes, that's the way it's often used. The definitions I found are:
mi·as·ma (m-zm, m-)
n., pl. mi·as·mas or mi·as·ma·ta (-m-t).
A noxious atmosphere or influence: “The family affection, the family expectations, seemed to permeate the atmosphere . . . like a coiling miasma” (Louis Auchincloss).
A poisonous atmosphere formerly thought to rise from swamps and putrid matter and cause disease.
A thick, vaporous atmosphere or emanation: wreathed in a miasma of cigarette smoke.
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[Greek pollution, stain, from miainein, to pollute.]
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mi·asmal or mias·matic (mz-mtk) or mi·asmic (-mk) adj.
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Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition
Copyright © 1996, 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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miasma \Mi*as"ma\, n.; pl. Miasmata. [NL., fr. Gr. ? defilement, fr. ? to pollute.] Infectious particles or germs floating in the air; air made noxious by the presence of such particles or germs; noxious effluvia; malaria.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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miasma n 1: an unwholesome atmosphere; "the novel spun a miasma of death and decay" 2: unhealthy vapors rising from the ground or other sources; "the miasma of the marshes" or "a miasma of cigar smoke"
Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University
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Why not smelange?I love it. I hereby name you Word-Coiner Extraordinaire! 
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Hi Gatsby,
Cacophony implies a simultaneous or sequential combination of sounds which is definitely resented as displeasing. Your description of the office at noon doesn't imply irritation. Furthermore, the nose perceives one smell at a time, even if it results from a combination of agents. This is probably why we are limited to the scale extending from stench to perfume.
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Danke wsieber,
I think you have an understanding of what I was after. I appreciate the feedback.
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Anna Strophic - "gallimaufry" - I like that!
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Gatsby>>>
Looking for the word that describes a plethora of various aromas/odors
I know this may or may not be of help to your quest but I just love this lines from Hamlet....take note of the last 7 words.
I have of late lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises; and indeed it goes so heavily with my dispositon, that this goodly frame, the earth seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why it appeareth nothing to me but a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors.
chronist
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In reply to:
a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors
You're not very complimentary on the culinary skills of Gatsby's coworkers!
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old hand
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I second that miasma
Miasma used to be considered the cause of Malaria and other deadly fevers.
What about osmorama?
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BobYB harrumphs [magnanimous e]: You're not very complimentary on the culinary skills of Gatsby's coworkers!
Well, maybe if they'd quit orking cows and git down to poachin salmon and bilin up grits, there'd be something to compliment.
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What about osmorama?
panaroma?
The -or- of -orama means 'look at'. What about panosmy or polyosmy? Osmomixy or mixosmy, 'mixture of smells'?
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old hand
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Hi NicholasW, -or- of -orama means 'look at'. Of course you are right, but the sound of the word overcame my hesitations  . An alternative, derived from panorama and pandemonium would be panosmium.
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