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I drove three hours round trip on a whim in college (when I had better things to do, like study for finals!) to satisfy my craving for homemade chicken and noodles. Thankfully, they were so good, I didn't mind a bit.

I spent three months in Iran during my first trip there and during that time, I developed an unsatiable craving for instant ramen noodles. Now, things have changed since then, but Tehran circa 1991 wasn't exactly an ideal place to find ramen noodles, as processed food was pretty uncommon then.

My nine year old self set off with my aunts on a wild goose chase throughout the city in search of these noodles and after hours of serching, finally found them at a small grocer who catered mostly to Japanese and Korean expats.

I went home to my grandmother's house and cooked them and Internet, those were the most hard-earned and delicious instant ramen noodles ever. And so spicy! My cousins thought I was crazy to crave these msg-laden noodles instead of all the fresh fruit and vegetables that were everywhere, but man, were they good.

These days, instant noodles, pizza, cappuccinos and everything "foreign" is easy to come by in Tehran but back then it took perseverence.

My story is actually about a craving that I was afraid a friend of mine would have. He's a bit of a picky eater (but not in a super-annoying way), and not a big traveler (had only been to California and Florida before I met him and started dragging him places). Anyway, so we were planning a trip to England/France, and I knew that he'd be getting hungry and cranky after a few days. So I packed a can of coke and a Twinkie (in a special, Twinkie-shaped Twinkie carrier), and schlepped them from San Francisco to London, through the Chunnel to Paris, back to London, and up to the Midlands. And on day 5, when he was properly cranky, I pulled out a proper not-labeled-as-containing-vegetable-extracts Coke and an unsquished Twinkie.

It was just enough to get him through the next 3 days.

(I might have had a couple sips of the Coke,)

1.5 hour round trip alone on public transport for the best caprese sandwiches. Yum.

Intense food cravings are a weekly occurrence for me. The strongest ever would probably be going to Europe in the end of May, just so I can see what I have been missing out on.

When I was pregnant with my youngest daughter, I used to either go past KFC every day (or cal my husband and make him go) to get their mashed potatoes every day for about 2 months.
BTW-my daughter still loves their mashed potatoes and usually gets 2 side orders for herself when we go there!

I tend to live by my cravings...if my body is craving a certain food, I know it's lacking a nutrient...so I feed my cravings. That being said....I think I'm satisfying one of my biggest cravings right now. I love maple....maple anything...so this year, as I've mentioned here before...my hubby & I have tapped a couple maple trees, and I've spent the past 3 weekends tending to the sap, cooking it down into syrup. Not much of a sacrifice..huh....except when you consider it takes about 8 hrs to cook down about 6 or 7 gallons of sap...and I get about 2 or 3 pints out of that! lol

Alas, I live in America. Even the weirdest food craving can be fulfilled by a phone call, web order, or even a short car trip to the nearest market. So although I get cravings, my stories are not awesome.

While this certainly isn't the greatest distance I have traveled for food, the strongest craving I've ever had was a few months ago, when I had to convince my vegan boyfriend that he wanted to leave the comfort of our home at 10pm on a rainy, 45-degree night and accompany me on the 20 minute walk to Five Guys and the 20 minutes back, just so I could have their burger.

When I lived in Chicago 25+ years ago, I always craved Eduardo's Stuffed Spinach Souffle Pizza. I would forgo my groceries to be able to afford many trips for the pizza. In those days, no one considered fat grams. I recently learned it is off the charts...but oh so good.

My family used to vacation in Myrtle Beach every summer when I was growing up and Cracker Barrel was a new thing in Ohio, on the 13 hour drive to Myrtle everytime we stopped to eat on the trip there and back, I made my family stop at Cracker Barrel. My middle sister didn't eat there for years after that trip. I think they have tasty hash brown casserole!

Also does it count that the first time I saw a thing such as Bacon Salt existed, I promptly ordered 4 bottles?

I often have cravings for a big bowl of soup noodles. More often than not, I can whip up a bowl myself; but I'll drive more than an hour for it if only the good stuff (homemade noodles, broth simmered for hours) will do.

Ehhh, like another poster (sidebernie) said, I live in America, any cravings I have can be satisfied pretty easily. There are times however, like during college exams, that I couldn't be troubled to drive out and get food, or I was too hungry to get delivery. Then I'd concoct odd, questionable quick-fixes like...sliced bread+spaghetti sauce+shredded cheese for pizza/Italian cravings.

Those never worked out as well as they did in my head :(

When my kids were little, we often had a very limited food budget. I shopped very carefully, usually leaving an item or two in the cart until I was sure I had enough money for everything. Putting things back embarrassed my kids, so they tended to watch closely to see if it was going to happen. Once, when we were checking out at a grocery store, it became apparent that I didn't have enough cash, and I gave back a pack of chicken thighs. The bag boy didn't realize the cashier had set them aside to be restocked, and he put them in our shopping bag. I said nothing. When we were walking home, my oldest daughter, probably about 7 or 8 years old, said, "Mommy, we didn't pay for that chicken." I told her it was the bag boy's mistake, and no one noticed, so it would be OK. I guess I wanted to look at it as a "windfall" of chicken. I immediately forgot about it.

But today, when I was thinking about this blog question, I asked my now-16-year-old daughter what was the most extreme thing she ever saw me do to get food. "You stole chicken." She told me the whole long-forgotten story. Obviously, like a lot of parents, I thought my kids would buy my flimsy excuse for a morally-questionable action. I may have been too tired to walk back, and certainly tired of not having enough money, but my kid remembers me "stealing chicken" to this day.

Good cupcakes. I spent two hours alone stirring the to-be-icing over simmering water that day...

After spending a month in Greece, I developed a serious taste for strong Greek coffee as my morning beverage of choice. When I got home to the US, regular coffee and even espresso just wouldn't cut it anymore. I went online to order the special brikka cup needed to brew Greek coffee, learned how to do it myself, and now I have it every morning- freshly made by myself!

I once craved Cluck U wings so badly that I convinced my OH to take me on a 1.5 hour round trip to get them for me. At 2 am.

Red Rose pizza, I fly form Oh to Mass twice a year to get it...and visit family.

In college I used to crave a smokey big bite at 7-11 at around 1-2AM frequently. I would go with a friend and walk up to the 7-11 through most kinds of weather. It was so bad that even the officer working the beat there recognized us and offered rides back to the dorm on particularly bad weather nights.

Three hours to get to my favorite Vietnamese restaurant in Portland. Sure, Seattle has lots of Vietnamese places, but none beat Banh Cuon Tan Dinh!

Middle of the winter, circa 1985, Medford, Massachusetts, 10:30 pm. Me, hopped up on hormone-screwing Clomid, dressed my pjs and fluffy bunny slippers. My husband, wild-eyed and dodging the household implements I was hurling at him as I ranted and raved that I NEEDED him to go out in the blizzard which was raging outside and get me some crab rangoon from the chinese take-out place down the street. He refused to aquiesce to my demands so I stomped out of the house, hat perched jauntily atop my bed-head hair, not bothering to change into my boots or change out of my pjs. I spent 1/2 hour digging my car out of the snow, to drive 6 blocks down the street for those delectably crisp won-ton wrappers filled with cream cheese and crab. Hell no, I didn't share.

When I was in high school, Hardee's introduced this sandwich called the
"Sourdough Club". It was ham, turkey, bacon, cheese, on a sourdough bread and it was awesome. Every Sunday, my brother and I would drive to the nearest Hardee's--an hour round-trip. Unfortunately, the sandwich was only on the menu a few months. If they ever introduced it, I wouldn't hesitate to make the trip again.

I initially chose my doctor, and later my divorce lawyer, because there is a Specht's Broasted Chicken restaurant on the way. The best fried/roasted chicken, cole slaw and super fresh hoagie rolls on the planet. I always tried to schedule appointments near lunch or dinner time. Especially after visiting my nasty lawyer and discussing my bitter divorce, I needed comfort. Later, I had weekly work meetings where I had to drive past, but they were too early, thank goodness. The food is delicious, but oh, so very, very fattening. Can I make it myself? Yes. Is it as good? No, and I don't know why. Perhaps one of the recipes in this cookbook? I'll just bet there's a fried chicken in there. I think broasted is fried and roasted or vicey versy? When I win, I'll let you know. *wink*

This goes back a bit, but it still makes me smile! While in college, we lived on a mixture of cafeteria food, fatty fast food burgers, and greasy fries. All left much to be desired. One night late, after my room mate and I had both fallen asleep for the night, we both suddenly woke up.. . .at 3 am, the incredibly enticing smell of grilled meat was wafting through the windows of our dorm room. As far as we knew, nothing smelling that good had been cooked on campus ever before, and it was intoxicating. By 3:30 am, knowing that sleep was not going to happen unless we satisfied our sudden craving, we woke up a dorm mate (who smelled nothing), borrowed her car, and drove around until we found an all night grocery. We bought a couple of steaks & a few basic seasonings like salt and pepper, and headed back to the dorm where we cooked an outstanding steak dinner in a toaster oven. By the time we finished, there was just enough time for a couple of hours sleep & a quick shower before making it to our morning classes, but it was well worth it. This was by far the best meal I had during my four years on campus, and one of my favorites ever!

Back in the 'old days' when you still could get it, sometimes I would get an irresistable urge for a Howard Johnson Tendersweet Fried Clam Roll. Definitely low class, but a fond food memory.

When I was a kid, my family moved from Connecticut to Florida where I discovered the only bagels were nasty, pre-sliced frozen imitations. We would beg anyone visiting us from NYC to stop in Brooklyn on the way to the airport and bring us two dozen real bagels. Now a decent bagel can be obtained at several places locally, but back then, those hand delivered bagel infusions were life savers.

I was living in England (London) and I was dying for American food. I was in college so this meant Mac and Cheese in the blue box. (I know better now.)

Anyway, I tried all the british versions and they kinda sucked. They were probably better for me but they weren't what I wanted. A group of us had tea at Harrods one day (overpriced and lousy tea) and I went walking around. I went into the international food section and low and behold The BLUE BOX!!! I was so excited I spent what money I had to buy it. I went back to my flat where I was living with a British family.

My British mum saw the Harrods bags and got all excited. Finally her American exchange student was getting into the properly British way of doing things. When I pulled out four blue boxes she laughed until she was purple in the face. I can still hear her saying the following (insert British accent) "Some people go to Harrods and get clothes. Others get jewels. Our boarder goes to Harrods and comes back with sacks full of KRAFT Macaroni and Cheese!!!!!"

My favorite food memory.

The Silver Palate's Green Lasagna - I almost went into cardiac arrest when the original store on the West Side was closed, and I was sooooo glad the recipe was in the cookbook. I've dashed out in all weather to get the ingredients to fill a craving - not so easy since it requires fresh spinach lasagna noodles - I've hauled from Queens to Manhattan to get them. Sometimes I would substitute Ronzoni dried spinach noodles that I'd cook for about 2-3 minutes, but now I can't find those anymore in supermarkets.

I posted the Silver Palate recipe on Serious Eats awhile ago:

http://www.seriouseats.com/talk/2009/01/creative-lasagnas.html

I had the sudden craving for smoked bluefish. I had to grab the rod , head out in the boat, find where the blues were, catch same, clean same, smoke same. It was worth it.

$5 for a normal, imported-from-America can of Dr. Pepper in Japan. There's nothing special about sheer desperation, but after two years of doing without, I wanted it So Bad.

My huband and I drove from Boston to New Jersey in one day(7 hours+) to eat Santouka ramen in the Mitsuwa food court.

After reading article after article about where to find the best fried clams in Massachusetts, I finally convinced my husband to drive to Ipswitch and get some. After summer traffic, and then a full hour and a half in line (we got to the Clam Shack just as they were changing the oil) we finally had our beautiful clams. Nothing can scratch an itch like that but the real thing, on a beautiful day in midsummer.

I'm still trying to satisfy my Pad Thai craving. The local places just aren't that good, but I think I'm getting very close after lackluster attempt number three at home.

Two months into med school, and the night before my first exam, I went out in an ice storm, on a moped, to get Krispy Kreme donuts. I wrecked, slammed a telephone pole, survived but needed surgery on both legs, and spent the next three months of school in a wheelchair. Damn! That's so lame. They're not that good (except when they're fresh and warm).

I stood in line for an hour just because Pinkberry finally opened a store up in my area. It was darn good yogurt though.

In the middle of the night last fall, we had the urge to drive 5 hours, from Muncie, IN to Chicago, just for paczki-- we had to settle for some amazing pierogi, since paczki, we were told, are just for Lent! And now we find them in our local Walmart on Shrove Tuesday...

I was craving a creme brulee dessert that was served at a casino approx 2 hours away from me. I hopped in the car, picked up my mom and off went to the casino for the day. It was an expensive " came home broke" craving.

Learned how to bake my own bread to satisfy that fresh from the oven taste that you can rarely get at the store

b/c I knew the place would be closed when I arrived, I requested take out brought to airport...

Did you ever see the episode of M*A*S*H where they had to get ribs delivered to Korea? They weren't just ribs, but ribs from Adams Ribs, near the Deaborne St. station in Chicago. Well, every time I see this episode I must MUST have great BBQ ribs and nothing gets in the way of having my ribs regardless of time or place. It has to be my longest running insatiable crave!

I had a really strong craving for a Thai dish in the town I used to live in, so I made a 100 mile round trip to get some! Thanks!

Had an intense craving for chocolate...and proceeded to eat/drink a whole bottle of Hershey's chocolate syrup. Unfortunately, it didn't quite satisfy my craving.

I spent three pre-dawn hours parked in front of a french bakery in Providence, RI to purchase - not baguettes - but palmiers: the best best best french pastry. I bought a dozen and ate them all.

I wanted hibiscus juice like I had in Mali. I found some dried hibiscus flowers online that cost about $5 and paid something like $30 in shipping for them. So worth it.

I drive from vancouver to seattle every few months to satisfy an ongoing craving...I can't get my fix here. Amandines and mexican food (specifically from oaxaca de la carta.) Sometimes I can't make it down to Seattle so I spend 4 days making my own amandines:) Maybe not awesome but shows commitment to my dependable craving!!

I carried the big box of 50 buffalo wings from the Anchor Bar as a carry-on item the last time I flew out of Buffalo.

during college, my roomie and i would make the 45-minute drive to dunkin donuts at least twice a week. ah, the lengths we would go to for some good iced coffee.

Every so often, I want a Crab Louis from Swan's Oyster Depot in San Francisco. They are pretty expensive, so I plan - and plan and finally walk down the hill and satisfy the desire. Cioppino is another serious desire and making it takes the better part of a Sunday. Worth the time and effort - several times a year.

When I was pregnant, I had a strong craving for watermelon, which of course was out of season. I went from market to market searching for it.

When my wife and I lived in Orlando, we drove to Cocoa Beach to go to a donut shop there. My wife was pregnant and we left at 2:00 in the morning. Once there, we had to wait a couple hours for them to open. Yes, it was worth it.

My ultimate food craving is always potato pancakes from scratch. As a child this was our treat especially on a snow day and my brother would be the one to hand grate the potatoes. Now it seems my craving for this almost always comes during or after a snowstorm. I'll even shovel my way to the garage to get out and get that missing ingredient - usually the potatoes!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A French pastry shop about an hour away from my home makes the most incredible cheese pastry I have ever had...not sweet at all, substantial and flaky all at the same time.

Last year my husband was taking me to the pastry shop on the morning of my birthday to have one of these GLORIOUS pastries. I rarely indulge in this kind of treat, so I was hugely-bouncing-off-the-walls excited. About halfway there, some sort of cataclysmic event occurred in the car's engine and we were stranded on the side of the road near a small toll plaza. One of the toll takers wandered over to check things out and my husband mentioned that our situation was particularly sucky because it was my birthday, we were on our way to my favorite pastry shop, etc. The toll taker chuckled and said, "That sucks. You can take my bike if you want to."

Umm...okay.

I hopped on his bicycle in my skirt and sandals and rode 15 miles to the pastry shop on the hottest day in June. Given the unplanned workout, I felt totally justified in having one danish at the store and grabbing another to share with my husband when I finally made it back to the toll plaza...and it was totally worth it.

The story of riding the tolltaker's bike to the pastry shop is wonderful.

I once walked across most of Paris with a friend who was dying for a particular kind of beer & knew of a place that had it.

My own cravings are for freshly picked strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes, apples, lettuces...! Said cravings start around christmas and build to a Wagnerian crescendo right about now.

My biggest craving actually happened about once a week during the last two months of my pregnancy. I didn't have a car, so I would ride my boys (no less) ten speed 10 miles to the nearest grocery store for..............oh boy, JALAPENOS!

I attracted quite a few looks from people as I sat in front of the store eating raw jalapenos as quickly as I could.

To this day, my daughter loves all spicy food and I think I contributed to that 100 percent.

Needless to say I have jalapenos of all types in my house at all times.

There is nothing worse than a craving that can't be satisfied.

I live in Wyoming. I needed some fresh Maine lobster so bad that I paid like $200 to have two lobsters and a couple of pounds of steamers shipped overnight to me. It was worth every damn penny.

I usually eat Mexican food about once a week. Truly good Mexican food is hard to find in Australia, where I found myself studying abroad for 3.5 months.

I gave it one try at a restaurant near where I was staying. There was nothing in the dish except HEAT - not a semblance of the Mexican flavors I love. Luckily, I was able to order at Dos Equis to help calm my pain and sorrow. Sadly, this is a story of a craving not fulfilled until my return to the US, where I promptly ate as many tacos and burritos as I could at my favorite Mexican food stand... but that's another story all together...

My strongest cravings are usually for Dairy Queen Blizzards and I'll load up the three kids and drive all the way to the other side of town to get one.

Several years back, I got a craving for a cafe au lait and poppy seed muffin from The Bakery in Santa Barbara (no longer there), so my sister and I both skipped work and drove (about 12 hours round trip) to SB and ate our muffins on the lawn of the courthouse. It was a nice day.

More recently, I wanted bagels, so I took money that was supposed to be used for a root canal and flew to New York for a week. Uncle Bill at Ess A Bagel is such a hoot. And I love Zabar's chicken salad.

I can't say I've ever had a strong food craving, not when I was pregnant or otherwise. I like food, period.

An hour an a half subway ride and an hour long wait in 90F+ heat for Totonno's pizza.

When I was pregnant with my son, I was absolutely crazed if I could not have Nutella, mayonaise, and peanut butter sandwiches. (eewwwwwwwwww) I was known to withhold marital affection from DH if he did not hike to the grocery store, at whatever ungodly hour I desired, to replenish whatever delicacy we were out of at the time.

My cravings during my pregnancies were sometimes outrageous, and the one who went to great lengths to supply what I craved was my husband. I can remember a very late night craving for lemon meringue pie that sent him all over the Groton, CT area (he was in the Navy at the time.) He finally returned over an hour and a half later, with not 1 but 3 pies, because he wanted to be sure there would be at least 1 that met my expectations!

When I was in Argentina all I wanted was a Turkey Sandwich. But, while they sell turkey at the butchers there (sometimes) they just don't have deli turkey, or the concept of slinly slicing turkey for a sandwich (only beef). And I REALLY wanted a PROPER turkey sandwich. On rye bread, which I also believe does not exist in AR. So I waited. Months. Until I went home. And then I made my boyfriend take me to a deli. Immediately.

I had strong cravings when I was pregnant: Must have a bologna and cheese sandwich NOW! Must have an egg roll NOW! But I never needed to go very far to satisfy them.

I do remember quite fondly the lengths we went to in Estonia to make a proper American Thanksgiving dinner -- no compromises! no cheating! Among the best I've ever had. And that was where I learned to bake pita and bagels, because if I wanted those, I had to make them.

I was in Japan with a friend about ten years ago and with the jetlag and lack of sleep we both needed a cup of coffee. Tea just wasn't satisfying our needs. Not being coffee drinkers back then we didn't think it would matter where we got coffee. Finding coffee places in Tokyo? Not easy...and then the coffee was pretty horrific, whether it came out of one of the vending machines on every corner or a cafe, it was undrinkable to us. I heard there was a Starbucks somewhere in the city and made it my mission to find it. Unfortunately none of the local folks knew where Starbucks was (or what it was actually). We finally found it by accident on the last day of our trip many miles from where we were were staying. I'm sure folks thought we were nuts by the way we were jumping up and down screaming "Starbucks, Starbucks" while my friend and I hugged each other. For someone who was never a coffee drinker, that whole experience started my "cup a day" habit (even if it's not always Starbucks).

Of course there was that trip to Mexico I conned my Grandma into taking me for graduation just because I wanted to try the fruit salad at the Anthropology Museum but that's another confession.....

Nothing too wordy but took a flight to Boston just to get my favorite cream puffs and flew right back home about 2 hours later, cream puffs in tow.... Ridiculously fantastic, ultra fresh and had to be eaten within 2 days of purchase---YUM!!!

2 summers ago I had such a craving for REAL BBQ that I took a weekend trip to Lubbboch Texas at Kreutz Market! Left on a friday night and go there early Saturday morning. Slept for about 5 hours in my car and hit the market! Im sure I ate about 2 lbs of sausage and brisket there before I called it quits. I knew I'd need some for the ride back so I bought 3 lbs of sausage and a cooler and hit the raod back home. got into Wisconsin at about 2PM and practically fell asleep at my door!

but I wouldnt change a thing!

i had jaw surgery a few years ago. i am a vegetarian, and at the time of surgery was in the 5th year or so of having given up meat - and had no cravings for it... until i woke from a drugged stupor after my surgery, not having eaten anything for 3 days, and needing to put SOMETHING in my tummy. well, it was summer, and on the counter was an advert for a big barbecqued hamburger. and OH MAN! did i want one!

When I was pregnant with #2, I absolutely craved TCBY's white chocolate yogurt with jimmies and nuts. The closest TCBY was on the wrong side of a toll road about 20 minutes one-way from my house. So yes, I'd pile the 1 year old in the car, pay my toll and drive down 2 exits, turn around, pay another toll and drive back just to go to the service station on the highway to the TCBY and order a large.

I'm too embarrassed to say how many times I did this a week, but it was a LOT. I think each yogurt ended up costing me about $5 (in 1993 money).

When I first got my own place, I really wanted to have cream cheese wontons at like midnight. I actually went to a 24hour superstore, but all the ingredients I thought maybe they used along with a bunch of oil, cooking utensils, and a deep fryer (I didn't own any of that stuff yet). I ended up trying a few different combinations of ingredients and never did find the perfect combo. Oh and that was my first time using wonton wrappers too so I no idea how to use or seal them at first. All in all, I spent WAY too much money for so-so wontons that I could have gotten just fine if I could have waited 12 hours.

I have flown to Arizona to eat at a great restuarant named Avanti....Fresh hand-made Gnocchi...Oh my gosh.....awesome....and I live in St. Louis...
I have also driven to Chicago for Garretts Popcorn, Joliet Illinois for White Fence Farm Chicken dinner and Lawrence Kansas for Yellowsub sandwiches...all my favorite places..now I need to go buy a plane ticket, it is dinner time after all....!

When moving to California, I fell in love with all the food options, but I desperately missed my shredded chicken from a family farm and Ballreich's potato chips from my little corner of Northwest Ohio. So, every time my aunt visits my parents (in South Carolina) she brings chicken and chips. Then, I have to wait until I visit my parents (which is usually about once a year) to have them. It's the best part of the trip!

I learned to cook because I missed my mom's food when I went away to college.

During my pregnancy I became addicted to Mexican food. I wanted it for dinner constantly but my husband quickly became sick of it. I at one point even broke down in tears for it and my husband got me some. Thanks for the chance.

After a long night of drinking I had such a craving for BK (yes, ick!) but I could not for the life of me remember where there was a 24 hour one...I spent $15 extra having the cab driver go around town looking for one! After a while I gave up and decided on McDs instead... :(

ice cream
Bi-Rite
San Francisco
salted caramel
it is
worth
waiting for!

Studying abroad in Argentina I had huge peanut butter cravings and I did manage to find some crappy natural peanut butter but it wasn't the same so anyone who visited me was required to stash jars in their suitcases for me.

Sad to say it was for pickle juice when pregnant!

Eons ago, I came home after a long night of drunken partiness with Jack in the Box burger and fries. After polishing that off, I still wasn't satisfied. What was I craving?? Poached chicken.

I got dressed, went to the grocery store at 3 am, bought a bird, came home, cooked it and ate the fresh, delicious meat with lots of oyster sauce. Then I went to bed.

I abandoned my ten month old daughter with my parents and drove across the border on a four hour ride to eat pizza bianca at my favorite bakery. for WHITE DOUGH, we endured border line-ups and a three hour wait for the stuff to come out in the miserable Seattle rain. Now I do the four hour drive to arrive at the right time for the bread to be ready.

When my mother was expecting , many years ago , she had a wicked craving for chow mein . Not so bad .... except it was 3:00 am. .... and there was a snow storm raging outside . Well , she woke my father and told him that she HAD to have some chow mein . After screaming about the time and the weather ....he got out of bed , dressed and went off on his quest . Amazingly , an hour later , he was back with a small order of chow mein . Mom took one forkfull ....ate it with GREAT relish ....and declared she was FULL ! You can imagine the resulting conversation . My Dad told this story till the end of his days .....and we " kids " loved it .

I went through a period where all I wanted to eat was nachos. In the middle of a blizzard, during which classes at my grad school were actually canceled for the first time in a decade or so, I trekked to the nearest grocery store (Whole Foods) and had the nastiest tasting but healthiest for me nachos ever.

My parents moved to AZ on me and thus took away all the great home cooked Korean meals my mom would make from time to time. One of my more favorite snacks was Dukbokki or rice cakes in a spicy sauce (i know the spelling probably isn't right.)
Anyway I had them ship me from Phoenix to Wisconsin 5 lbs of rice cakes and my mom make her own sauce to send up. I probably ate half of it within the first two days. I still make them send me Korean instant ramen

While pregnant I constantly craved cheeseburgers and a vanilla shake, easy enough if you are not in a foreign country twenty years ago. We would have to go to an Air Force Base bowling alley to get them.

chocolate chip banana bread was a frequent craving in college. my room mates and i would buy way too many bananas on purpose so that some would go black before we could eat them. one time we were craving it so badly that when we took it out of the oven and it was still raw in the middle, we just cut out the middle and decided to call it a bundt cake. just so we could eat it right away. looking back at it kind of scares me.

I *crave* Ippudo's ramen on those cold and windy nyc nights that we know so well that when my sister and her husband visited, we may have waited two and half hours to get our seats.

I was living in San Francisco when I was pregnant with my first child and the only thing that would curb my morning sickness was a particular pepperoni pizza from a walk-in, hole-in-the-wall called Arinells in the Mission district. It was the combination of the extra crisp, ultra-thin crust, the perfectly spiced, tangy tomato sauce and the super-hot, dripping, gooey mozzarella cheese that had me jonesing all throughout my workday at the NBC news station in town. As soon as I got off work, I jumped in my car and sped to Valencia and 16th street, a hot-hip area busting on a Friday night. I could already taste that tangy sauce in my mind and my mouth watered as I drove around looking for a parking spot. I drove around and around watching people go in and out of Arinells. I couldn't take it any more, my mouth watering and wondering if there would be any pizza left. I chanced it and double parked knowing full well that cops love to cruise this area, especially on weekend nights. Holding my pregnant belly, I ran across the street. There was one guy ahead of me who ordered a slice. I held my breath until I got up close to the window to see what was left-- just one slice! And it did the trick-- it took away my queasy stomach and satisfied my craving for the night.

My husband and I were totally bummed that we weren't going to make it down to New Orleans this year as previously planned. To satisfy our craving for LA food and fun, we ordered 60 POUNDS of crawfish to be shipped overnight to our apt in Brooklyn and had an indoor mid-February crawfish boil. It was a great party, and the crawfish were delicious. However, I don't think I'm going to have another crawfish craving again for a long time. We went to sleep when our guests left, and woke up Sunday morning to crawfish carcasses and bright red cajun seasoning on everything!

I've ordered 4 dozen mochi ice creams from Hawaii, just to satisfy my craving for Bubbie's pumpkin mochi. I had to make room in the freezer! Mmmm.

hot pastami sandwaices they are so hard to find

When I was in high school I went to France, and tasted the most wonderful crepes in the world. I spent the next 5 years trying to find an authentic recipe that would replicate the yumminess, but to no avail. So finally I gave up...and drove 7 hours from my home to Old Montreal and bought authentic French crepes.
Best. Decision. Ever.

It was after I had my son. I had been anemic and the OB didn't catch it until late in my pregnancy. My girlfriend brought me over two plates of fried chicken livers the morning I came home from the hospital. They were my favorite meal ever. I had never craved anything as much as those chicken livers after I took the first bite. I am craving them right now as I type this. I might just have to pick some up tomorrow and totally gross out my family!

Bagel and cream cheese, while living in Madrid for a time. Luckily, I actually found a bagel shop in Barcelona when I visited the city--along with a lot more exciting food finds. Since that time, the bagel place turned into a Starbucks. Yuck.

I visited Italy with my mom, sister & brother-in-law about ten years ago. Our goal was to find some bacala (dried, salted cod) to bring back to the U.S. with us. My Italian grandmother used to make bacala with homemade tomato sauce over pasta on special occasions and we missed both her and her cooking. We found the bacala at a fish market and they were able to vacuum seal it so we could bring it home with us in our suitcases. (Going through customs with three large fillets of bacala was pretty funny though. They laughed and let us through without a problem.) When we arrived home, my mom was the first to attempt making the bacala. We had no idea how much time & effort went into soaking the bacala to remove most of the salt and restore it to it's original texture! (2 days in a few gallons of cold water, changing the water twice a day) Regardless of the effort involved, the bacala & pasta dinner turned out wonderfully. We grew to appreciate my grandmother even more after finding out how hard she worked to make a delicious dinner for the family.

strongest food craving might be kimchi pancakes.
risked being ostracized.
traipsed around the city to find kimchi and then left it out for a few days, despite roommate's strong objections!!, so that it would "sour" -- to make the best kimchi pancakes, like mom's! (+ add hot dogs, much to roommates' initial disgust, they LOVED them!!)

My friend Louisa and I once wandered all over Strasbourg, looking for a restaurant with a particular brand of French mayo to go with our fries.

I spent my teens drinking 7-11 slurpees in Canada, and now - 11 years later, living in Minnesota where there are no 7-11s.. I find myself drinking liters of the things whenever I go home for a visit.
I've even tried making them in my ice cream maker.. no go.

In high school, my friends and I decided that we wanted a chicken salad sandwich from Tim Horton's (a big coffee chain in Canada) at about 2 am. (In retrospect, I don't get the fuss about the sandwich, but at the time, we were obsessed). Because they baked their bread in-store, and they bake in the wee hours of the morning, we happened to hit the time when the previous days' buns were gone, and the new ones weren't baked yet. We drove around to 8 locations (which took over an hour) until we found a bun so they could make us our sandwiches. Sheer foolishness in terms of wasted gas and wasted time, but hey, we weren't getting into trouble at least!

I once planned a trip home to San Antonio, Texas from Fairbanks, Alaska to coincide with the release of (my very favorite craving) Blue Belle Texas Hill Country Peach Ice Cream. (the absolute best peach ice cream ever made!)

I had the best coffee in Hawaii when I visited there w/my parents on vacation (I'm from Michigan) a few years ago and now every once in a great while I splurge and order some online for the fresh kona coffee beans.

getting out of bed in the middle of the night for french fries with gravy and a grilled cheese from the diner.

Curry! I've actually eaten leftover curry for breakfast because I didn't want my husband to snag it for lunch and not leave me any.

This isn't very exotic, but after living in So. California for a couple of years, every time I get out there now I have to go to Carl's Jr. for a burger. My CA friends tolerate me, but think I'm crazy.

There was a time in my life where I was addicted to Grape Jolly Rancher candies.

I am talking Baaaaaddddddd.......

I HAD to have a baggie of them with me at ALL times and I had to pop them into my mouth one after the other.

GRAPE! Not cherry, not apple.....GRAPE!!

It was the strangest thing and drove everyone around me crazy.

And then one day, I just stopped but this went on for at least 3 months straight.

To this day I turn my head whenever I see one cause I am so afraid that it will start up again.

FREAKY

When I was pregnant with my twins, I had an a HUGE craving for a green chile cheeseburger, the kind you find in a small roadside diner on the backroads of New Mexico.....perfectly cooked thick burger, melty cheddar cheese and a huge scoop of roasted green chile. My wonderful husband drove me 6 hours out of state just so I could eat one for dinner and then he drove me back home like the wonderful husband that he is...I slept the whole trip through, both ways, only waking up to eat!

I love Sheila's cookbooks!

Without question chocolate. I once drove to the grocery store at 1 AM to satisfy my craving!

Chocolate chip oatmeal cookies... the craving was so strong that I baked them myself.

Potato Salad, day or night, as long as I see homemade anywhere I have to have it!

I love some good Hawaiian food.. well, once we moved to the mainland it wasn't as easy to find... I had one of my friends OVERNIGHT me some ooo so yummy food... It was so expensive but I just had to have it and it was cheaper than flying there...

I went though a phase where ham, dill pickle and mayo roll ups were all I wanted to eat. I had that for supper every night for about two weeks straight. The thought of it makes me nauseous now.

Had a craving for In-N-Out Burger so we drove seven hours and two states away just to get a Double Double Animal Style.

I always plan vacations around grocery and restaurant visits. Not that exciting, but true. :)

Chocolate pudding and claussen pickles. And I've never been pregnant. Just thinking baout it makes me want to get in the car and go to the grocery store now, and it's 1:20 am . . .

Chocolate. If it's not in the house already, the store is a short distance from home....

Not the most unusual story, but the only cravings I have ever had in my life were for pink grapefruit! I can remember one time going grocery shopping and buying quite a big of groceries for my family of five. When I got home I realized that the bagger had forgotten to put the bag filled with my produce choices in my cart. All I could think of coming home was that pink grapefruit...and then to see it was not there! UGH!!! Could I just have substituted a tuna sandwich for my lunch and have my husband pick up the forgotten bag on his way home from work?? Yup! Did I do that...nope! I strapped the kids back in their carseats and went back to the grocery store! The irony of this craving is that now I am on a medication and the one thing I cannot have is grapefruit! Major bummer!

I just love Cajun food! I had to move away from Louisiana and I really miss the cooking. I can't find alot of the ingred. here in Pa. but I still can cook the Chicken and Sausage Gumbo.

I craved dill pickles when I was pregnant, for some reason. And after my daughter was born, I didn't want to eat them at all anymore. It's funny the cravings you get when your pregnant.

I have a shameful secret. I am addicted to "Good N Plenty" candy. I have it hidden around the house, at my office and even the glove compartment of my car. I can go weeks with ot eating some but went this urge hits me...I have to eat it! it is very embarrassing to be eating this candy like a kid because I am a 50 years old woman. My whole family laughs about it.

When I was a teen, I loved chocolate so much that I would get up in the middle of the night and make chocolate icing from powdered sugar, butter and cocoa. That's how desperate I was for chocoalate!