What food reminds you of being a kid again?
Like Anton Ego taking his first bite of ratatouille, is there a food that immediately transports you back to your childhood? How often do you have this food now?
Mom wasn't much of a baker, so chocolate frosting spread on graham crackers was a prized treat. Another is drinking warm evaporated milk straight out of the can. Even today, I confess to occasionally indulging in both!
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32 Comments:
My grandmother used to make struffoli for christmas.
recipe by Mario Batali here http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_29367,00.html
She would pile it in a huge mound and cover it with 100's and 1000's (Cento e mille) which are great little candy sprinkles. As children we would run to that the mound of tiny fried honey drenched dough fritters. I can recall my sticky fingers and the joy of seeing such a beautiful display.
The Ceci nel miele (chick peas in honey) were for celebrations.
They were not chick peas but they looked like them.
They are not hard to make, the kids can help you and what a bang for your presentation buck.
Italian christmas is what I do every year. Nonna would have loved it.
JerzeeTomato at 8:44AM on 12/24/07
The first thing I thought of wasn't food, but rather, a beverage. When I was sick my mom would make 'honey and lemon juice' for me, usually in the middle of the night when I was congested with a sore throat. Now just one sip, and I go right back to being about 8 years old!
Curlz at 9:53AM on 12/24/07
I'll second the frosting and graham crackers, but they have to be made into sandiwches and the timing is key. You must make them a day before you want to eat them and store them in a Tupperware container. This gives the graham crackers time to absorb some moisture from the frosting and soften up. Aside from having a better texture, the hard graham crackers won't squeeze out the soft frosting when you bite into them. Plus, that's the way Grandma Jeys did it, and who wants to argue with Grandma Jeys?
I guess I'll be the first to post Peanut Butter and Jelly.
Any sort of Cheeto, Cheesball, cheezy-poof tastiness. (If you'll remember, the only effective way to remove orange Cheeto-dust stain is by wiping your little fingers on your denim-clad thighs.)
And how can I forget the second, somewhat diluted half of a big ice-filled glass of Pepsi from a 2-litre bottle. That is refreshing after a hard afternoon of building a tree-fort.
ajeys at 10:43AM on 12/24/07
Jerz---I have never heard of struffoli---how long did something that sounds sooo good last for you kids?
ajeys--you are absolutely right about storing the frosted graham crax before consuming--softer was indeed better!
A dish that triggers memories (but I no loner eat) is chipped beef on toast. Have you out-grown some childhood food favorites?
JEP at 11:02AM on 12/24/07
chicken matzo ball soup and chopped liver knishes. i must be entering my second childhood, since i had never once attempted to make the knishes after my grandmother died until a few years ago. now i always have a batch in the freezer, portioned out into easily reheatable little foil bundles. ditto for the homemade chicken soup.
jerzee, interesting about the struffoli -- they sound just like teiglach! {little hard fried dough balls soaked in honey and nuts}.
conversely, the smell of canned chicken soup or industrial peanut butter and grape jelly transports me immediately back to grammar school, and not in a good way.
cybercita at 11:31AM on 12/24/07
Oh, I love homemade struffoli. My friend's mom would always make a big plate of it for me every year and he would bring it into work and make all the other co-workers (who we didn't like ;) very jealous. Now I have to do without :(
My childhood memory food is rasam, which is South Indian spiced tomato and lentil soup that is eaten with rice. That and Kraft mac and cheese make me feel like I'm five years old and sitting on the kitchen floor while my mom cooks. What a great memory :)
charm city cupcake at 12:18PM on 12/24/07
I have a funny list: bangers and mash (it was my first thought, we used to have it quite often when I was little), chopped liver (I rarely eat it now, but whenever I do, I feel like a little girl in my grandmother's kitchen again), salmon & potato pie (that was my Mum's speciality. I recently recreated it from memory and was amazed how much it tasted like childhood). Also, the smell of real (not diet) Coke when you open the bottle - we didn't, normally, have any fizzy drinks at home, but my parents would buy Coca Cola for us for "special occasions". If I am in the room with somebody opening a bottle of Coke, the smell transports me to my childhood before I even realise what it is.
brooke29 at 12:21PM on 12/24/07
I think if people made it one time, it is so easy simple ingredients and so good, that they would start their own tradition. You don't need many ingredients, candy sprinkles, some zest and honey, juice of the zested fruit.
It is the most festive looking item you can pile on a dish. We used to pick at it since the little fritter balls were small. Keep it in the fridge when your done with it bring it out later pick some more.
I love traditions. (and things covered in candy sprinkles) but who doesn't?
JerzeeTomato at 1:09PM on 12/24/07
For me it's easy: watermelon. I grew up on watermelon.
I rarely eat it now, but WOW does it bring back childhood.
minstrel at 1:40PM on 12/24/07
My iconic childhood food is Franco-American canned spaghetti.
They don't make it anymore or maybe they do but it has the name "Campbell's" on it now which as the visual sight of the can is part of the experience, alters it.
One can claim to be old when the foods of their childhood disappear. :)
Boo hoo hoo. :(
Karen Resta at 2:43PM on 12/24/07
Real Sloppy Joes not that YECK out of the can
Markbb at 3:41PM on 12/24/07
If I ever ate tuna casserole again, that would definitely take me back to childhood. But I don't think I will. I wasn't crazy about it, that's for sure!
Any time I eat at my parents' house, and my dad makes chicken scallopini or bbq'd chicken, I feel like a kid again because those were my favorite dishes.
misseditor at 6:32PM on 12/24/07
Tootsie Roll Pops!
Especially Root Beer
srhcb at 8:17PM on 12/24/07
MArshmallow Fluff.
moibec at 10:53PM on 12/24/07
peanut butter on celery, chex mix, chocolate oranges. cracker jacks.
DaveFaris at 1:32PM on 12/25/07
Good memories: one bottle of coke (small, real glass ones) and a bowl of popcorn that my mom made in a cast iron skillet on the stove top. Every Saturday night (My only pop of the week!) during "The Love Boat".
BBQ Lays Potato Chips before they ruined them and changed the BBQ flavor (cira 1984ish). Peanut butter and apple or banana sandwiches.
Bad memories: Creamed Tuna on toast. Oh. No. Please. No!!!
Hockey Puck hamburger patties (not even ketchup saved them) and grey peas. My mom had a tendancy to overcook things a bit.
Bad sickness remedy: a cup of honey, warmed on the stove with about 1/4 cup diced onions. This was spoon fed to any of us with a cough or sore throat. No, the onions were not strained out. Yum.
radley24 at 10:27PM on 12/25/07
Corn flakes with chocolate milk made with Hershey's syrup. I loved it as a kid and was one of the few things I could eat while I was pregnant years ago.
kathyvegas at 12:02AM on 12/26/07
Well this sounds weird but it takes me back to being a craggly little boy in patched up blue jeans standing on a hot sidewalk..... It is Dr Pepper and salted peanuts. To enjoy this culinary triumph you need to open up a dr pepper take a sip (to give enough room to put the peanuts in) and pour in one bag of salted peanuts. Now with your grimy frog smelly little hand you close off the bottle waiting for the presuure to subside. Immense joy as you drink the pepper / peanut combo.
Lemoyne at 6:01AM on 12/26/07
Gravy.
Macaroni.
On a Sunday.
Like being wrapped in a big Italian Blanket.
And definitely an effective time machine for when I need a dose of comfort and a reminder of simpler times.
chiff0nade at 2:01PM on 12/26/07
Cheese sandwiches; jolly ranchers and airheads; and rice krispy treats (although my au paire would slightly melt marshmallows, drizzle them with butter, and sprinkle rice krispies over them) Chicken fried steak and cheap frozen pizza are also great memories :)
LusciousJ3 at 2:24PM on 12/26/07
My grandma's sugared walnuts.
Cinnamon toast.
Kraft mac'n'cheese with ground beef and stewed tomatoes.
My grandma's tamale pie.
Rootbeer floats.
Cottage cheese and pineapple.
P.S. to Lemoyne... my hubby does that! But he uses Coke instead of DrP. Are you from the south?
LoCo at 2:58PM on 12/26/07
Good food memories...
My nana visiting and making batch after batch of sticky cinnamon rolls...
Going to Grandma's and eating meltaway mints (which are still amazing)...
Milk but only at room temperature, I hated it cold (weird)
Fish fries (my dad is a walleye fisherman, so we fried fish with family and friends every week)
Bad food memories...
Porkbake (my horrible (not really) mother's attempt to bind pork and bread...gag)
Overcooked EVERYTHING
Tuna fish would chase me from the house (now I love it!)
Cake icing...I've always hated it...
lo82070 at 3:33PM on 12/26/07
Something I would never make myself- liver & onions. I do request this when I visit mom though-she's the only one who makes it the right way.
also Sour Patch Kids & peach New York Seltzer water remind me of being a kid.
bisbee at 3:56PM on 12/26/07
Nalesniki.......a polish crepe made with water instead of milk. Very, very thin....we could see the design on the plate..... and no browned edges. We would sprinkle sugar on it, sometimes add sour cream or cottage cheese and then roll it up. Some folks would put jelly on top. A favorite variation would be to drop sliced apples in a little thicker batter and then fry them and then sprinkle these with sugar.
parker at 4:21PM on 12/26/07
warm pan de sal with condensed milk
thegreatlumpia at 4:39PM on 12/26/07
oreos
pigs blood cake.
foodinmouth at 11:20AM on 12/27/07
I have a million, but one that immediately comes to mind:
'
Rotisserie chickens cooking on the grill, basted with butter - the smell was unbelievable. Always served with homemade lemonade, potato salad or crummy (crushed saltines in butter - crumbly?) noodles, coleslaw with pineapple, tomatoes and (if in season) asparagus, or roasted carmelized carrots. Strawberry shortcake for dessert. Shortcakes and real whipped cream made by Mom. She was an awesome cook/baker/mother.
That's a summer weekend in the back yard, swimming in our little pool memory.
bisbee - My mother made the best liver and onions (once a week - she was iron deficient), but I hated them until I was an adult. Now, it's a treat.
PerkyMac at 11:25AM on 12/27/07
Cybercita....one food from my childhood is long gone. Pichah, that is jellied calves feet. I know, it sounds gross. My grandmother, rest in peace would make it with lots of hard-boiled egg and garlic. Oh yes and gribbenehs, chicken cracklings with onion. (Guaranteed to clog your arteries before you finish chewing). I understand that the "new" Second Avenue Deli" on 3rd Ave has gribbenehs. On a more pedestrian note; PBJ and the ever polular grilled-cheese and tomato sandwich.
RichardCrystal at 12:19PM on 12/27/07
RichardCrystal, you post just made me smile...my grandmother used to make the same jellied calf feet dish, only she would also add parsley to it. I never ate it as a child (then again, the list of food I would eat as a child was quite restricted), and never got a chance to try it again as an adult and maybe change my mind. Come to think of it, it's the first time in 20 something years that I even hear about this dish again...
brooke29 at 1:09PM on 12/27/07
Just a girl from Greenwich, Ct.: Corn fritters with white gravy
bessfour at 4:21PM on 12/27/07
Hi justagirlbessfour! That doesn't sound like CT food, unless it's deep southern CT? Does sound good though!
PerkyMac at 5:37PM on 12/27/07
richard crystal, i make gribenes all the time. in fact i just made some a few days ago so i could have schmaltz to put into my kneidlach. oh, they were good. i ate a few and then used the rest in the kneidlel batter. for some reason i don't worry about the dietary implications of consuming chicken fat, although perhaps i should.
i have a friend whose father loved to eat ptcha. he prepared it himself. she said it had about equal amounts calf's foot and garlic and made the house just stink.
cybercita at 9:16PM on 12/27/07