Food and memories are inextricably linked, and these memories have emotions in the mix as well. This will come as no surprise to anyone who has smelled baking cookies or tasted the first bite of stuffing at Thanksgiving dinner. Food nostalgia is the term used by scientists to refer to how thinking of or eating a particular food or dish recalls a meaningful or pleasant experience. They note that smell is closely linked to the brain’s limbic system, which is responsible for emotions and memories. And it turns out that the vast majority of what we consider taste is actually due to the smell of food, with scents activating the brain’s emotion and memory centers.
Thinking of my top food memories transports me to where I was, who I was with, and of course, how the food tasted. Fortunately, I have more good memories than bad ones.
As a young girl, I hovered in the kitchen to watch my dad make sweet and sour napa cabbage, loving the sizzling sounds of wok-cooking. I was surprised by just how delicious this simple dish tasted, and it may be one of my first significant food memories. It was in my grandmother’s yard in Grandville, Michigan where my brother and I climbed a large mulberry tree, settling in among branches to pick and eat ripe mulberries. Our stained hands and faces were evidence of how much we loved those juicy berries. Today, just hearing the word mulberry brings this fond childhood moment to mind, and I recall that tree, grandma’s kitchen overlooking it, and her smile.
Trying tuna poke at a Honolulu buffet likely removed the unpleasant stigma I once held about fish, particularly raw fish. The poke was a pretty bright pink, mixed in with chopped scallions, sesame seeds, and sesame oil, and the freshness and distinct flavor made the dish an immediate favorite. This was the same trip when I tried crunchy green papaya salad on the North Shore of Oahu. Who knew that a food truck in some random business parking lot would deliver up such a pleasant surprise, and another of my top food memories.
If you love hot cocoa, I suggest trying the drink with chile pepper included. A friend and I waited for a fair amount of time at the counter of a busy Vosges Haut-Chocolat shop in Chicago after ordering, but it was entirely worth it when I sipped the thick, rich treat that had a hint of heat. Speaking of chocolate, Mexican hot chocolate was common in my childhood home, made with hard blocks of chocolate that I would watch slowly melt into warming milk. Waiting wasn’t easy, but there is no flavor that compares to this comforting drink. Maybe I should try it with a beignet, though I’d have to make them myself, as I live too far away from the little Asheville, NC cafe and bakery where I marveled over the first taste of this tender, warm, and nearly melt-in-the-mouth pastry, fresh from the oven. That was my very first beignet, and now I understand why they are a signature tradition in New Orleans—and many thanks, by the way, to France, where they originate!
As you think about your favorite food memories, I’m sure you’ll recall when and where you were when those tasty morsels hit your tongue, as well as the emotions that went with the moment.
