Food Memories
By JennyLeah
@JennyLeah (190)
United States
October 8, 2007 6:20pm CST
This probably sounds like a really strange question, but what are some of your favorite memories of food?
Not just the dish, but everything that went with it.. the company, the smell of it cooking, the feeling you had sitting around the table eating it.
Close your eyes and remember. And tell us what comes to you. :)
Some of my food memories are of Football Sundays when my dad was working, but my mom wouldn't cook. She'd set my brother and me up in one room with a video or turn something on TV for us, and turn on the television in another room to whichever football game she was watching. (Usually the Miami Dolphins.) Either during the pre-game stuff or during halftime, she'd pull out a variety of deli meats and cheeses, slice a tomato, and onion and tear up some lettuce. And set everything out on a platter with a bag of hoagie rolls. She'd set up this "make your own sandwich" station at the kitchen table, with mayo, mustard, oil and vinegar - the whole 9 yards. Didn't smell a thing coming from the kitchen, but those sandwiches were some of the best I've ever had. I remember thinly sliced ham, with swiss cheese loaded up with lettuce, tomato, onion and pickles and sprinkling oil and red wine vinegar over the top, and then bringing it back into the living room (it was the only time my brother and I were allowed to eat outside of the kitchen when we were that young) and balancing my plate on my lap and taking a big bite of heaven. I can still remember the softness of the bread between my teeth and the way the lettuce and onion crunched. The red wine vinegar was sweet and tangy and oozed and dripped everywhere.
I'm not even that big of a fan of ham anymore, but a ham sandwich like that gets me going even today! It's not quite comfort food, but it's nostalgia at its best.
Your turn!
1 person likes this
7 responses
@irishmist (3814)
• United States
9 Oct 07
I would have to say family Sunday dinners at my grandparents home.
We would have dinner than stay and watch TV every Sunday. We would watch Lawrance Welk, Bonanza, and some other show. Then go home. Also my dad worked two jobs when we were kids. At night he delivered pizza's, and at the end of the night he would bring home a pizza, and wake me and my brother up to have a piece.
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@JennyLeah (190)
• United States
9 Oct 07
That's awesome. Both sets of my grandparents lived out of state (in different states) from us when I was growing up, so I saw them only once a year. My dad's parents lived in New York and came to visit for the winter holidays (we're Jewish, but celebrated Christmas too, so Channukah, Christmas, and New Years), and my mom's parents lived in West Virginia and came in mid-February (right between mine and my brother's birthdays, so we wouldn't think they were playing favorites. I suspect it also had to do with wanting to get away from winter, since we lived in Florida!).
I do have food memories with both sets of grandparents, but nothing as lasting as Sunday family dinners.
I love the story of your dad with the pizza, though. That must have felt so special, getting to come out of bed to indulge with Dad. :) Thanks for sharing.
@irishmist (3814)
• United States
10 Oct 07
ya I sure do miss those good old days.
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@crazynurse (7482)
• United States
9 Oct 07
My favorite food memory is my Grandmother's homemade coconut cake. She made all of her cakes and pies from scratch. Her coconut cake was her speciality. Whenever we went to her house for a special occassion such as Thanksgiving, she had made her triple decker coconut cake! It was sooo good! No one has been able to duplicate that cake, but whenever I do see or taste a cocnut cake I think of her!
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@JennyLeah (190)
• United States
9 Oct 07
Nothing is ever better than a homemade, from scratch, confection, baked with love and the attention to detail that only Grandmother's can afford.
My maternal grandmother made some of the best pies and cookies in the world (pies were her specialty, and peach is my favorite), to my memory. Unfortunately, as she's gotten older, dementia's set in, so she forgets what she's doing halfway through. Last Thanksgiving she made a pecan pie, but forgot the pecans! I know I'm lucky she's still around (not too many people still have grandmother's when they're almost 30!), but it makes me so sad, because she loved cooking and especially baking.
@peavey (16936)
• United States
10 Oct 07
Reading through the responses, several memories came to mind. The first was when I was quite young, before starting school. We lived next door to Great Grandma and Great Granddad and Granddad loved to go fishing. I loved catfish, so when he caught catfish, he'd come and get me and I would eat dinner (we called it supper then) with them. I still love catfish after all these years.
The most recent is the memory of so many Thanksgiving and Christmas eves when the kids would help me make dressing for the turkey. We always made cornbread dressing, with lots of sage, onions, celery and giblets. Getting your hands in the warm, gooey mess as we broke cornbread into it... adding just a little more sage... and a little more... chopping onions until the tears flowed... nibbling on tender celery hearts. Good memories. The kids are all grown up now, but now and then one of them will show up on the eve of a holiday to help make dressing.
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@lilaclady (28207)
• Australia
9 Oct 07
When I was a little girl there was corner shops everywhere, milk bars, grocery shop, fruit and vegie shops we called green grocers, I remember going into the corner stores and they had a very exciting aroma of all the different things they would sell, even the green grocers but today the few corner shops that are left I guess they don't sell as much as the shops before and the packageing is probably different there just isn't tht exciting aroma, even the hot bread kitchens dont have that bakery smell about them...or is this a sign of getting old, is it because when we are young our senses are so highly tuned....
@JennyLeah (190)
• United States
9 Oct 07
Corner stores like the ones you described don't exist quite the way they used to. It's sad, isn't it? They always smelled yummy and the food was so much fresher. I guess they just can't compare in terms of turnover as the larger grocery chains these days, though.
@dreamy1 (3811)
• United States
9 Oct 07
When I was a kid maybe about 8 or 9 years old my father was making a steak and mushroom sandwich to take to work with him. He worked nights so it was around three in the afternoon when he was making it. It smelled so good. It was a nice piece of steak and some sauteed mushrooms on a buttered bun. I just said I'd sneak a little bite. Well one bite turns to two and so on and so on and you can guess what happened. My father had to make another sandwich but I still think about it to this day. That was the best steak sandwich ever.
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@JennyLeah (190)
• United States
9 Oct 07
LOL! That's an awesome story, dreamy1! I remember that happening more than once when I was a kid too. In fact, when I'm home with my parents, it still happens today! My mom knows that if she's going to make egg salad if I'm around, to throw an extra egg in the pot or she won't have a sandwich later.
@Kowgirl (3490)
• United States
9 Oct 07
Oh to be young again and hanging out in my mom's kitchen while she and my grandmother made our home made dressing and cranberry with pineapple sauce.
It makes my mouth water just to think about it and the smell was such a delight to the nose. The smell of Turkey roasting, fresh green beens boiling,
the cranberries and pineapples simmering, and all while they mixed the dressing for dinner. These two beautiful and loving women would sing and dance around the kitchen, tell jokes and laugh...I sure do miss these good times. My grandmother has passed on and my mom is almost 91 so she doesn't cook much anymore.I have tried to make these unforgettable delicious dishes but no matter how hard I try they never taste like their's did. Guess my love ingredient just isn't enough.
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