THE TASTE OF CHILDHOOD MEMORIES

FEBRUARY 28TH, 2022

Illustrated by: Kristel Jaago.

“Rien peut me ramener, plus en arrière, que l’odeur d’la pâte à modeler” 

“Nothing can bring me further back, than the distinctive smell of Play-Doh ,” Orelsan sings in “La Quête”, the second song from his award-winning album Civilisation. When I first heard this song, these few words wrapped in a melody that sounds like a lullaby, he instantly brought me back to my childhood. It made me wonder ⁠— why is this image so powerful? 

There are countless ways to evoke what childhood nostalgia feels like. What I find the most striking are references to two of our senses: smell and taste. These go hand in hand because the odour of what we eat and drink plays an important role in the flavours that we taste. So the combined work of our olfactory (‘smelling’) neurones and our taste buds creates a flavour that becomes an integral part of our food memories. 

WHAT’S YOUR MADELEINE MOMENT?

Do you remember the scene in Ratatouille, when food critic Anton Ego tries a sophisticated version of this typically French peasant dish and is instantly transported back in time to his mother’s kitchen? 

This Disney movie is one of the most famous images of the so-called ‘Madeleine moment’. Also called ‘the Proust effect’, it refers to a passage from À la Recherche du Temps Perdu [Remembrance of Things Past], when the narrator’s childhood memories are triggered by the taste of a Madeleine and a tea. 

What Proust describes is a specific type of reminiscence, one that is involuntary because it is triggered by something in the present. 

However, nowadays (particularly in France) the Proustian Madeleine often refers to anything that reminds people of the past. This can be smells and tastes, but also works of fiction like books and movies and even music. 

So, when you ask people “What is your Madeleine de Proust?” you get to know what their strongest childhood memories are; the ones that trigger powerful emotions in them.   

I love listening to stories and talking about food. So I decided to start asking people around me about their culinary past, as well as  their positive and negative food memories of childhood and what they associate them with. 

Interestingly, I realized that a lot of people remember similar things. Often, there is a specific dessert or sweet snack that marks people’s childhood. Also, any additional triggers strengthen people’s memories. That is, for instance, if the food in question reminds the person of certain people or places, or if it is linked to extremely positive or negative memories. 

Here is a sample of some people’s Madeleine de Proust:

“HOME SWEET HOME” – CHILDHOOD’S SWEET PLEASURES: 

“The Napolitain: that was my entire childhood! My childhood was based on Napolitains. And I still find them delicious. But not as delicious as before, when I was a kid, they were the best thing in the whole world.”  

“The Délichocs: We loved it with my brother and my sister. Every time there was a new box, it was gone in two seconds. These biscuits looked like the Petit Ecolier biscuits in the way they are made, but the chocolate of the Délichocs was crispier, with little pieces of sugar in it. There were about 16 biscuits per box. And this well, ‘boom’ in one strike there was nothing left of it.”

“Rhubarb cake: My mom used to make it all the time when she had more free time. She made it for me again last May because I really craved it. It’s more of a crumble than a cake; it’s lower than a cake with crumble on top.” 

SOME PLAYFUL FOOD MEMORIES

“I remember a funny desert; the Flanby. You would turn it upside down, then take off the sticker to remove the capsule and then the desert would fall onto your plate. Then you would look at your friends, and ‘hop’ you’d suck the whole thing at once. The challenge was to eat it as fast as possible. […] I can’t remember exactly where I was the other day, but I saw some of those, and well, in England they don’t always have the metallic sticker behind them. But then, at some British people’s place, I realized that they didn’t know that the Flanby could be decapsulated. So they would eat it directly with a spoon in the pot! Can you believe this? They have never done it differently! […] But we didn’t suck it at once because I had eaten too much, so I wasn’t able to. Still, I could see myself doing this little ‘piggy race’ with other people some time.”

“The only thing that I just thought of is something that my mom used to hate when I did it. Well, when I bought it after school. They had it at the little shop opposite of school where they sold these little candies, marshmallows, and gummies. It was like these white gummy cigarettes kind of things […] they look like cigarettes and you’re supposed to bite it and it imitates smoking. [And] when you blew in it, there was a bit of white dust that came out of it. […] you should not smoke, and when you’re 13/14, it’s stupid to play with that. So, I remember how people bought them in school to be cool and I was like “Mom, someone bought this again to be cool.” But when I could try it, I was like, “Wow that’s cool.” […] It was really sweet. I had a sweet tooth, and I still do, but that was really, really sweet.”

HOLIDAYS AND TRIPS ABROAD

“I can tell you things that remind me of seasons, and things that remind me of holidays. For me, on holidays, like Christmas, we eat Lechal al horno con patatas asadas. Lechal is a type of meat. And the next day of the holiday we eat “Lubina,” it’s a type of fish. It’s made in the oven with sea salt covering it. That’s Christmas. We make it at another time of the year, then it’s insignificant, but these are the meals of the holidays, of the 24th and the 25th.” 

“They are things that I haven’t eaten since, but that, just the thought of it, reminds me of [England]. There were many dishes that I loved, such as Jacket Potatoes which were potatoes cooked in the oven, and then you’d open them and stuff them with whatever you wanted, things like shrimp, creme, lots of things like that. It was de-li-cious!  And then there were the roast dinners. It was the typical Sunday dinner with stuffing. Oh and the Flapjacks! That was amazing. They were bars made with oat flakes and they were very sweet. Oh my god, I loved this.” 

TRAUMATIC MEMORIES – OR THE UNFORGETTABLE TASTE OF DISGUST

“I will always remember the French beans from the school canteen. In my primary school canteen, they would always serve cordon bleu with French beans. By the way, it’s funny how the school canteens’ food combinations stick with you. Because now when I see a cordon bleu and I ask myself what could go well with that, I always think about French beans. But they could be eaten with other things, you know what I mean? So I remember that the cordon bleu was the best thing ever, so I told one of the women that served the food that I was allergic to French beans. She was like “yeah, yeah, stop joking around.” But I mean, all the kids would say that, you know. So I would eat all of the French beans super quickly, like, I would literally swallow the whole thing at once. And then I could enjoy the cordon bleu. […] So you see, crispy French beans are delicious. But soft and gooey French beans, that’s the school canteen.”