Food and Nostalgia

Isn't it amazing that we can eat something and it can transport us back to a time or place, so quickly.

They are now saying that your stomach has a second "brain". That there is a lot regarding gut health we still have not uncovered.
I know one thing for sure, it is tied to emotions like nothing else.
There's that cliche, the way to a mans heart is through his stomach.. Maybe we need to pay more attention.

I had a dish this morning that took me right back to being six years old. Someone had mad it on social media, and I had long forgotten about it.
It is a very simple rice dish.

You take rice, soy sauce, sesame oil, and back long ago it was topped with a raw egg. It would then be mixed and the rice would steam the egg.
We ate it like that for a long time. Then salmonela was really bad and they told everyone to stop using raw eggs, so then everyone fried their eggs. It wasn't the same at all. A sunny side up egg will do though. Every single bite I see glimpses of my mother stirring it in a metal bowl, with a metal spoon so that every grain of rice was coated. It was simple, but delicious. Comfort food!

very true.
whenever I smell steamed crabs I think of growing up (Chesapeake region).

grilled cheese make me think of a ship I was on. (not a pleasant memory, we had them when the stores ran low and I hated them.)

a reply to: JAGStorm

I have a couple of friends that obsess on the nostalgic aspect of food. One of them talks about how he still misses a certain restaurant that closed 30 years ago. Recently, he ate a can of original Pringles chips with a bottle of Coke and said he was "transported back to his childhood". His diet isn't the best, but he is really quite healthy.

Always an interesting topic. It doesn't contain the second brain but is considered itself a second brain. The nervous system of our GI tract is autonomous, it's called the enteric nervous system (ENS). It is so interconnected that it reminds us of the synaptic connections in the brain. Being independent of the brain also helps with that idea.

If our gut tells us something, listen to it. Your stomach will knot up before the upper brain processes it consciously.

a reply to: JAGStorm
Certain foods will put you right back in the school cafeteria as well.
Some chocolate chip cookies remind me of the ones we had at snack time in grade school.
Cafeteria lady pizza and shortbread can’t really be replicated in the real world. They used to make these giant pans full, and chop them up into big square slabs.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Instant teleportation to childhood...

a reply to: stevieray

Cafeteria lady pizza and shortbread can’t really be replicated in the real world.

When I was in grade school, (1960s) a team of four lunch ladies made the pizza. It was a basic hamburger and cheese pizza, but I'm convinced there was some sort of magic at work. It was like the ultimate comfort food. They made it once a week, and it was always perfect.

originally posted by: ColeYounger
a reply to: stevieray

Cafeteria lady pizza and shortbread can’t really be replicated in the real world.

When I was in grade school, (1960s) a team of four lunch ladies made the pizza. It was a basic hamburger and cheese pizza, but I'm convinced there was some sort of magic at work. It was like the ultimate comfort food. They made it once a week, and it was always perfect.

School Pizza by Yummy Foods We Share

Crust
2-3/4 flour
3/4 cup powdered milk
2 T sugar
1 pack quick rise yeast
1 tsp salt
1-2/3 cup warm water (105-110o)
2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Filling
1/2 # ground chuck
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 8-oz block mozzarella – grate yourself

Sauce
6oz can tomato paste
1 cup water
1/3 olive oil
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 Tbsp dried oregano
1/2 Tbsp dried basil
1/2 Tbsp dried rosemary crushed
salt to taste

Preheat oven to 475o. Lightly grease a half sheet pan and line with parchment.

Whisk flour, powdered milk, sugar, yeast, salt together. Add oil to hot water (110-115o); add to mixture and
stir with a wooden spoon until batter forms – don’t worry about lumps – you just want no dry spots. Spread dough into pan using fingertips until it’s even. If dough doesn’t want to cooperate, let rest 5 minutes and try again. Bake 8-10 minutes – remove from oven and set aside.

Brown & crumble meat; set aside and drain.

Simmer sauce ingredients until a thick tomato sauce is formed (20 to 30).

Spread sauce on partially baked crust; sprinkle with meat(s), and cheese.

Bake at 475o for 8-10 minutes until cheese melts and begins to brown. Remove from oven – let stand 5 minutes
Cut in slices and serve!

originally posted by: JAGStorm
Isn't it amazing that we can eat something and it can transport us back to a time or place, so quickly.

They are now saying that your stomach has a second "brain". That there is a lot regarding gut health we still have not uncovered.
I know one thing for sure, it is tied to emotions like nothing else.
There's that cliche, the way to a mans heart is through his stomach.. Maybe we need to pay more attention.

I had a dish this morning that took me right back to being six years old. Someone had mad it on social media, and I had long forgotten about it.
It is a very simple rice dish.

You take rice, soy sauce, sesame oil, and back long ago it was topped with a raw egg. It would then be mixed and the rice would steam the egg.
We ate it like that for a long time. Then salmonela was really bad and they told everyone to stop using raw eggs, so then everyone fried their eggs. It wasn't the same at all. A sunny side up egg will do though. Every single bite I see glimpses of my mother stirring it in a metal bowl, with a metal spoon so that every grain of rice was coated. It was simple, but delicious. Comfort food!

Damn, I can see how that would be good, I'll routinely put an egg in my ramen noodles, and make different versions of stir-fried rice all the time. One thing that might work well enough is briefly microwaving and mixing and microwaving again briefly, a single egg only needs 45 seconds to a minute. Have done this with leftover rice frozen veggies and whatever protein soy sauce, sesame oil, and while it is not as perfect as Wok stir-fried rice is damn good for a small one-person quick meal.

LOL, my sister makes the Thanksgiving dressing exactly how one of my grandmothers used to. Makes me remember going up there every time. She makes it now ahead of time, she just made a test batch this weekend. It is so good and yes ours is "dressing" not stuffing, it's almost a souffle and it is baked in a pan by itself and it is so thin and light and the bottom and the edges get golden brown. It's superb I can't eat just that and be fine.

Very simple but damn it's difficult to get the ratios of onion, sage, and celery correct. Before getting poured into the baking pan the mixture should be soupy, but full of broken-up baked cornbread and baked and cooked biscuits, good chicken stock and it too has a couple of raw eggs, sage, onion, celery a little butter, hell if we arrived early enough my grandmother would give me a small bowl and I'd eat it raw LOL she would say it's gonna make me sick but it never did.

For me, it's not just those good eats, but sometimes smells will take me back. LOL, for example, an ex used to use Rose Geranium essential oil, one day we were fooling around and I knocked over a bottle with a loose lid on the nightstand, it went everywhere and mostly dripped on the carpet. By the time I cleaned it up it was soaked in the carpet

it reminded me of both my grandmothers whose bathrooms were full of flowery potpourri aromas our bedroom smelled like that for a month

I understand it has some calming and soothing effects, we began calling it grandmother in a bottle and I always think of both my grandmothers and that smell that would inevitably hit you first thing cause you would need to go to thier bathrooms after the long drive there

a reply to: putnam6

The weird thing about that rice dish, I don’t like egg yolks or egg yolk flavor, somehow this rice dish it doesn’t come through, the yolk becomes more of a thickener for the soy sauce. It’s weird, but very very good.

originally posted by: JAGStorm
a reply to: putnam6

The weird thing about that rice dish, I don’t like egg yolks or egg yolk flavor, somehow this rice dish doesn’t come through, the yolk becomes more of a thickener for the soy sauce. It’s weird, but very very good.

Im sure it is, LOL. Im, going to try it, always looking for good simple quick dishes, especially for breakfast, and don't mind experimenting with rice.

What are the basic ratios like a cup of steamed rice an egg a couple of tablespoons of soy and a smidgen of sesame oil?

a reply to: Encia22

They used to sell these delicious candied apples at Publix around fall, and I haven't seen them now in ages
I wonder why? I will have to make them myself but it won't be as good I think. It was always a guilty treat with a bit less guilt ,because you're eating an apple as well

a reply to: putnam6

A cup of rice, half teaspoon of sesame oil, a good teaspoon of soy sauce (or more to taste)
Lightly fried egg on top. You can also add shredded seaweed on top too. The trick is to stir the yolk
Into the steamed rice very quickly. Mmmmm sooo good!

originally posted by: ancientlight
a reply to: Encia22

They used to sell these delicious candied apples at Publix around fall, and I haven't seen them now in ages

I wonder why? I will have to make them myself but it won't be as good I think. It was always a guilty treat with a bit less guilt ,because you're eating an apple as well

Caramel apples or isn't there a cinnamon kind too? both were so good but I kind of preferred the caramel with chopped peanuts.

Ive even done a frozen banana with caramel and dark chocolate, to me it's as good as a Dove or HagenDas bar

a reply to: JAGStorm

my mom used to make breakfast the same way growing up!!!
she would make toast and oats (like oatmeal) and then mix it all up with the egg and some salt and pepper, soooo goooood. I could never make it the same way but i still try to this day. Even though it never tastes the same as when she made it, its still good and sometimes i come close, except when I over cook the oats and they come out mushy...

Speaking of pizza, there is this bakery I recommend to anyone who travels in the area, my high school was not far away and the town truant officer used to check there at lunch and find us skipping school (or eating the pizza under the bridge on the train tracks and maybe smoking...lol)

Framingham Bakery


talk about a trip down memory lane...
Edit to add : dont be fooled by the picture, those slices are HUGE, you can take them home and slice the slices

I always stock salt codfish or other salt fish. I soak it overnight on Saturday night and drain the water and add new and poach it and add butter and have it with toast. My father told me eating a little piece of it full of salt without rinsing it is medicine. I asked him how to know when I need to take it and he said I will know. It puzzled me but I have usually always had a box of it and have cut a little chunk of it and it makes me feel better for some reason.

Turns out I am just a little bit of Inuit, paternal side. I pee out a lot of salt so need ample amounts of it. I was told to make sure to have salt pills too, and I guess that is a substitute but salt cod fish is chuck full of minerals, all that get washed out with that genetic trait with lack of anti-diuretic hormone. Salt or smoke fish full of salt is so nostalgic, I buy smoked fish pretty often, also pickled herring which is also salty.

I am not afraid of eating raw eggs from the people I know who raise chickens, because they are outdoor chickens and eat a lot of bugs and grasses. But I rarely eat raw eggs from the store...actually I have not done that for many years. Raw eggs have some good medical properties, they are antimicrobial. It is the raw white that has this property, any bacteria in an egg is in the shell or outside of the membrane attached to the shell. I knew older people who would put a raw egg in their beer when needed...I tried it a few times, but I would rather have them cooked overeasy, sunnyside up, or poached or soft boiled. I eat about ten eggs a week, if I had to eat store eggs, I doubt if I would eat four since they have no good flavor to them...even the organic ones don't taste that good from the store, chickens need to eat bugs and weeds or your garden veggies to have good tasting eggs.

Nostalgia to me is eating Kalla Mojakka once in a while, or salt fish with scalloped potatoes. Or home cooked meals, from scratch.

It truly is amazing how certain foods can evoke powerful memories and emotions, transporting us back in time to moments and places from our past.

originally posted by: shakerattle
It truly is amazing how certain foods can evoke powerful memories and emotions, transporting us back in time to moments and places from our past.

The combination of taste and smells are the most powerful.. It definitely hits some part of our memory that other things don’t!

originally posted by: putnam6

originally posted by: ancientlight
a reply to: Encia22

They used to sell these delicious candied apples at Publix around fall, and I haven't seen them now in ages

I wonder why? I will have to make them myself but it won't be as good I think. It was always a guilty treat with a bit less guilt ,because you're eating an apple as well

Caramel apples or isn't there a cinnamon kind too? both were so good but I kind of preferred the caramel with chopped peanuts.

Ive even done a frozen banana with caramel and dark chocolate, to me it's as good as a Dove or HagenDas bar

Definetly with peanuts, love the added crunch. I will be making them myself this year, with my son, he will love that