Food generates memories. Taste is up there with smell and sound for bringing back memories of where you were, who you were with or when you first tasted something, ate something you loved or hated. It reminds you of happy times maybe from childhood but also can remind you of the not so good times too. Food can make you happy or sad for those very reasons. Food can make you nostalgic too - how else do you explain the rise of comfort food dishes on menus everywhere now ? I do love a good old fashioned "nursery" pudding.
I have made no secret about my complex relationship with food. I love it - it doesn't always love me. It makes me happy, sad, guilty, comforted and I love the way it brings people together and unites people of all ages. There is nothing better than getting a group of good friends around a table, serving good food and wine and just relaxing. Yes food is necessary, very necessary but is also a joy, a fantastic pleasure too. I will admit to my occasional love of fast food but ultimately it makes you feel guilty. The cleansing and healing power of chicken soup and no I'm not Jewish !
I have very fond memories of Saturday evenings with my house mates at university. Tortilla chips, dips and beer watching videos and even now onion and garlic dip still takes me back there. I have not so good memories of a vermicelli pudding which I used to be made to eat as a child, that was truely vile ! I remember my first taste of cockles out of a polystyrene tub on the seafront at Great Yarmouth as a child and I remember vividly the egg and chips that my Grandad used to cook me when I went to visit. Eggs fresh from the chicken that day and potatoes out of the ground only a few hours earlier.
.jpg)
There are no recipes to write today, no reviews to be read. Just my thoughts about food and how it's shaped my life and experiences over the years. I am 35 now and still really enjoy trying new foods and encouraging my children to do the same. I would love to think that they will have some great food memories from their childhood and I have set them up with a healthy love of food for the rest of their lives.
We are a family who love food too and I, too, am keen to have my children grow up with hopefully mainly good memories of food. I'd also like them to have a good relationship with food and not find it TOO hard to keep the weight down when they are older.
ReplyDeleteThat is the tricky part. Teaching them about good healthy food while balancing it with the treats too.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard for me. I love food a bit too much. Summer is fine but it is turning autumnal here now - very windy and cold in past few days - so I have turned to sitting inside with a cup of tea and lots of cake/chocolate.
ReplyDeleteBy the way that egg and chips picture looks sooo yummy! My Mum used to make that for us too with handmade chips (although not grown by ourselves like your Granda) so I have come over all nostalgic too.