Have you ever used food to retrieve memories?
My friend Gina has just contributed to a book that brought together Filipino expatriates reminiscing about their favourite dishes.
The authors of “A Taste of Home – Pinoy Expats and Food Memories” believe that it is “the kitchen that generates the warmest thoughts of home..”.
I love the part about Gina’s childhood in the US:
“two cans of Chef Boyardee…
It brought back everything about growing up in suburban America in the 1960s: the wobbly formica kitchen table, the cheap plastic paint sets ordered with coupons cut out of the top of Kellogs Frosted Flakes cartons…”
In Italy, the two main Christmas desserts are Pandoro and Panettone.
Pandoro comes from Verona where I grew up. On my last visit home, a friend gave me a fresh Pandoro that I brought with me to London.
I opened the bag and…for a second I was back there… in my beloved school, Istituto Agli Angeli, with its enormous park.
I must have been about 5. I felt the texture of my lunch book under my fingers. I even felt the sticky spots where I used to spill the peach juice that would come in little bottles…
I opened my eyes and the memory was gone.
All of the sudden, it was 2008… I was standing in the middle of a kitchen in West London holding the gateway to my childhood.
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