Y'know, some people do claim that they CAN. Who's to say? It's most probably psychological. Even if it's not true, could be true for them.
Myoglobin itself doesn't have a smell. The primary factor of a steaks smell comes from the steak itself not the Myoglobin. Steak is iron rich and therefore has a metallic smell like how blood does. A steak can smell "bloody" without being medium rare.
My point was that steak being "bloody" is an extremely common misconception and the author is outright saying it IS blood. Maybe irl it's psychological for some people, but in terms of this story that is not the explanation we recieved and it's just the writer messed up a fact. ╮(￣▽￣)╭
I just read chapter 16 and I can't help but want to yell "STEAKS AREN'T BLOODY!! THEY DO NOT SMELL OF BLOOD!! THAT'S JUST THE PROTEIN MYOGLOBIN!!"
like I could see if he said he had a hard time LOOKING at blood bc Myoglobin gets confused for it, but he distinctly complains about the smell which it would NOT have!!
Ahem anyway back to reading... Lol