A Little Trip Down Memory Lane

Its an amazing fact that food holds so many memories, and that the sensory load of a favourite meal from childhood or a comfort food can instantly bring us completely to a central point no matter what we had been previously focused on.  We smell it, or taste it or see it, even just talk about it and instantly we are back inside a memory.  I was talking to someone this week about the Netherlands and they said that the food there is terrible.  Which I suppose could be absolutely true for them, but different for me, because its not just food or flavours or presentation.  Its memories of childhood, memories of my trip to Holland, its comfort.  So I can concur that kale and potatoes are not a culinary taste sensation or that salt and licorice don’t automatically belong together.  However, I must defend chocolate sprinkles as a sandwich food and cookies that are waffles filled with syrup as a great snack.  The foods we know and love will always be held in a different honour, maybe even if somethings taste better. Its where we are from, its who we are, its our past all rolled into a type of food that we seek out when perhaps others would not.  Lets embrace our differences, try new foods and just all agree that our favourite foods do not need to be everyone’s- where would be the flavour in that?