Food and associations

[annwfyn]

I've just had an odd experience.

I'm pottering around the Cantina, mostly revising and sitting on the computer every now and then. Anyway, I recently took a break for lunch, and because there was a weird collection of things in the house wound up making a pasta dish - pasta with a sauce made up of hot dogs, and olives, with a pesto base and some added spice.

The odd part of this is that that's a dish that I used to cook a lot when I was living with Jason. We were dirt poor, often hungry, and so we used to eat a lot of tesco value pasta with sauces made up of cheap stuff, like hot dogs. Jason loved olives, so I used to add them a lot. We'd cover our food in spices and curry powder because we both liked spicey food.

Since I've broken up with Jason and left Edinburgh I've barely eaten any of that. In America, Mike didn't eat pasta particularly. Then I went travelling, then lived with my dad, and then when I moved out it was to move in to Chez isalani, pretty much with pierot and it isn't the kind of dish that either Anthony or Jeremiah are very fond of.

And so I moved on. Yet today I cooked and for some reason it brought so many memories back. It also got me thinking about dramatically my eating habits and tastes have changed over the years, and how there are so many foods that I associate with specific times in my life, with specific relationships even.

I still associate a certain kind of apple strudel (not the kind you buy from Tescos and cook at home) with Weaver's Walk cafe in Newbury, and sitting there for hours and hours with Leah, or Ali, and sometimes other friends from school. I associate tinned potatoes and Bird's Eye crispy chicken with the years living with eladriell in Edinburgh, when I'd try and pathetically come up with something I could cook which would equate to 'meat and two veg' and wouldn't set off any of Paul's allergies. Christ...I don't think I've made a roast chicken dinner since those days either, and I used to cook them fairly often then. It was a relatively cheap way of feeding Paul and the assortment of friends who appeared in the house.

I associate hot dog and pesto with pasta with living with Jason, and I associate very thick strawberry milk shakes with late nights sitting in diners, making sure Mike had eaten instead of watching him go hyperglycemic. I associate paella with pierot - heck - I really associate fresh tiger prawns with Jeremiah. I associate sea food rissotto with Vittoria's in Edinburgh, and I remember many many meals there - often with incursus and bluepixie. Pasta and mince in huge quantities - I'm not sure if I associate that more with cairmen or scimon. I think they've both cooked such dishes for me, and I know I pretty much never use mince myself.

I have changed in terms of what I eat. I've lost the ability to eat really spicey curries which I could do easily when I was 19 and living in Nepal. I've lost the ability to eat McDonalds, which tasted lovely to me when I was 15, and last time I had some tasted horribly greasy and stuck to my mouth. I get hungry now in a way I didn't when I was 18 when I would dodge any meal I was given half a chance to.

It's strange how I've never thought about this before. Food is something I suppose I've always thought of as a constant. 'Sally likes strawberries' or 'Sally doesn't like fish', but my tastes and my eating patterns really have changed a lot. I think I've always failed to think about food as a trigger for memory, while being very aware of how other sensory experiences, such as music, or scent, triggers me very strongly.

It's very odd.

Am I alone in this? Have other people always had constant eating patterns or have they changed? Can food be a trigger for memory for other people as well?

Comments

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

Flavour is largely smell. Smell is the doorway to memory.

Foods are places and times. Home was alwyas mum's plaited lamb, or her Savoury Beef en Croute. Eating pasta with ripped up roast chicken always takes me back to my quasi-student days. Thai food is what I most associate with Jo.

my eating habits have largely changed with affordability of food and options. My options were massivly cut down when I worked out my allergies, and ever since then they have slowly been expanding again, as new food become available and I work out more ways to get around things. But this makes food occasionally quite emotional for me, I almost cried with happiness when they started bringing out part baked wheat-free baguettes.

[cristobel.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I cook spaghetti and homemade cheese sauce. It's something that my gran used to cook for me every lunch time when I was in primary school. I don't really eat it any more, because I usually eat healthier food than white spaghetti and cheese and lard. But occasionally I cook this out of nostalgia, rather than hunger.

Last year when my gran died, I cooked this and cried, and it made me feel closer to her.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

*nods*

There's food that always reminds me of my mum - stuff that she cooked well. I think Baked Alaska would get me really nostalgic. I've not eaten it since Mum died - I've no idea how to make it, although she did it really well.

[fire-sermon.livejournal.com]

I think people's eating habits tend to adapt to their surroundings and their budget...

Since I started going out with Gordon I went from being a semi-vegetarian who rarely ate anything sweet, to a carnivore who really likes puddings. Plus, now I actually plan meals for two, I tend to eat more, and more regularly than when I was (despite living at my parents house) cooking for myself.

If I don't fit into my wedding dress it's entirely his fault.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

I think the people you've got around you to affect what you eat significantly. For example, I used to eat a lot of spicey foods, before I started cooking for ksirafai because she's often around. Ginnie really doesn't do spice, so all my cooking got a lot blander.

I think since I've not been eating spice my tolerance for it has gone downhill - I certainly glug a lot more water while eating curry these days than I used to.

Oh - and I'm sure relationships are bad for one's waistline. I always seem to put on weight when I'm in a steady relationship and I'm always at my thinnest when I'm single.

[cristobel.livejournal.com]

yeah, sometimes I want to eat it in memory of my gran, and sometimes I really really don't want to eat it because I find the thought upsetting.

[cristobel.livejournal.com]

you will definatly fit into your wedding dress and look amazing!!!

I also find that I feel kind of responsible for cooking for A. If I can't be bothered cooking for myself I'd just open a tin of soup or have a sandwich but when you're cooking for two I feel a bit responsible for actually have a "proper" meal.

[commlal.livejournal.com]

At least you never had bread from a tin, which is how David's dad used to get bread. Some of the pasta is just plain nasty, but some is not so bad. And there is also a bakery somewhere that does gluten free cakes fresh

Hell yeah

[wildrogue.livejournal.com]

Cream teas remind me of bank holiday weekends in Polruan when I was small. Bolognaise always brings my mum and her 'one hundred things to do with mince' to mind. I used to eat gooseberries from the bush in my child-minder's garden and steal raspberries from family friends bushes. Certain foods like fresh coconut and plantain remind me of Ghana and watching the guys hack coconuts off the tree in the garden with rusting machetes. I could go on.

Re: Hell yeah

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

You know, I have to ask you about Ghana at some point. You've mentioned it a couple of times, but I don't know much about why you were there or how long for. Must have been muchly cool tho.

[wildrogue.livejournal.com]

Agreed. When I lived with Lotte (who was veggie) I hardly ever ate meat as we would cook together, and we ate loads of somewhat experimental food depending on what was left in the cupboards and what we could afford. Now that I'm cooking for Scott and quite often Anthony I have to do fairly plain and stodgy foods 'cause it's what they enjoy. And a lot more meat. On the other hand I eat more regularly and that is good for me.

Re: Hell yeah

[wildrogue.livejournal.com]

Three weeks, staying with my best friend's family. It was amazing. I'll see if I have the photos up here to show you.

Re: Hell yeah

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

Cool. I always like looking at pictures of faraway places.

[jo-english-bint.livejournal.com]

It's strange that you posted this today - now!

I've just eaten a prepacked boil for 15 mins in milk dish I haven't eaten since I was at uni. Cooking it brough back loads of uni memories!

So it's not just you!!!

*hugs*

[cristobel.livejournal.com]

yeah, and I think you go through phases as well don't you? Maybe not such an issue for you sunny climate south of England dwellers, but here in the frozen north I find that I cook a lot more large filling warm food, even in summer.

so, Sally, I went out to buy a coffee, and on my way back I passed a man who had just lit his pipe. I love the smell and taste of tobacco pipe smoke. My uncle used to put his pipe in my mouth for me to taste when I was young. He died when I was three, so I'm really surprised I remember this, but the smell and taste brings it all back! How totally would I have a fit if someone did that to a small child today!

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

It's really odd how things which seemed absolutely fine 20 years ago are just really viewed as dubious now. It's also amazing how small children can remember things. I can still remember the wallpaper in the first bedroom I ever had of my own, in Lyndhurst, and we moved away from that house when I was five years old. It's amazing how things stick at times.

[sea-of-flame.livejournal.com]

Oh - and I'm sure relationships are bad for one's waistline. I always seem to put on weight when I'm in a steady relationship and I'm always at my thinnest when I'm single.

I comfort-eat, and also robotically eat stodge on a 'yuck, I've forgotten to eat for two days, must fix sugar screwups' basis when stressed/in odd routines, so being in a stressy relationship tends to make me put on weight.

I've certainly lost a lot of weight since going from relationship troubles with Simon to now (erm...about a stone...aiee!) - and I'd probably put that about half down to lack of stress, and about half down to change in lifestyle (getting fed fresh curry soon after I come in from work, rather than cooking myself a mound of pasta at 11 at night, and sleeping properly and things) & in cooking habits (Dave's intolerance to onions/garlic tends to mean we cook from scratch far more, so fewer gloopy sauces and things)

[melsner.livejournal.com]

Red Robin Hamburgers. Strawberry milk shakes. Clam chowder. Chicken you cooked. Salmon. BBQ Cleo.

[christabelle9.livejournal.com]

hmm...

I've experianced varies stages of poor, the worst and most dramatic were all when I was married to my ex husband (we won't get into the reason for why we were so poor).

First married I was lucky to be working at a restaurant... so I was fed every day at work. I would many times come home and give $5 to Sean to go to Wendy's and get himself 5 $1 burgers.

We moved, he was working at a restaurant for his family.. I worked maybe 2-3 days a week making no money ( we were living in their carriage house.. so they didn't pay ME). Most meals consisted of what ever canned veggie was on sale at the market. Would spend a week eating canned corn, black olives, or carrots. I spent years eating that way.

After leaving my husband I was living alone and so scared of being broke that I wouldn't spend a dime. I ate a lot of rice, and buttered pasta.. which oddly enough, is all Ryan eats.. heh.

[lilitufire.livejournal.com]

I think it's true that eating patterns and tastes change - though I'm particularly guilty of cooking what a partner wants to eat and ignoring my own desires. Andy was very heavy on the stodge, wasn't really into meat and veg (which is my favourite thing, I love my veg) and in some ways I think I only remembered what I actually enjoyed eating when I started cooking for me, rather than a partner. I rarely cook stodgy things now, and don't have rice, potatoes or pasta in the house.

A particular aubergine curry reminds me very much of uni. Stem ginger cake reminds me of visiting my gran after school. I was eating a strawberry yogurt mousse when my parents told me they were splitting up - never eaten it since. Taste is one of the strongest triggers for me.

[melsner.livejournal.com]

I always loved how you blamed me for gaining weight. :)

I had to eat every four or six hours and that involved a lot of meat, so it's not an accusation without merit.

There are certainly worse accusations. ;)

Sally

[isalani.livejournal.com]

Just thought I'd mention that when no one else is a round and i'm hungry other than the pate that i'll happily polish off what i generally eat is pasta

Re: Sally

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

Of course...it's rice that you don't eat, isn't it?

My bad memory!