# Whats your first or favorite food related memory?



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

So i saw an old thread and instead of ressurecting it decided to just make a new one.

Anyone here have a favorite food memory or one they are very fond of, or maybe your first food related memory.

If i had to think the first that came to my mind was my grandmother (who is basically my mother) making funnel cake.

I used to love it and instead of making them in nests she would make them in little spheres. The spheres always came out perfect, now i know how to make them just as perfect as hers.

My second memory would probably have to be me being very young and my mother in the farm picking raspberrys. I loved berries as a child and the farm had such a small supply. My mother would go deep into the tall grass just to pick some for me.

Last and not least when i was 2-3 years old we lived with my grandmother at the time as well.

Across the block their was a little market that sold amazing Marshmallow meringues. I remember eating those little things as a child.

So what memories do you have???


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

I'm sure I've told this story at least once, no more than 2 or 3 times, heaven forbid more than 4!  Well, actually 2 stories.

Back in my hometown of Dowagiac, Michigan, I'm maybe 6 - 7 years old.  My dad made a decent living, but with so many kids ( final total 6 ) it was probably a struggle at times to feed all those mouths.  Back then chicken wings were way cheap, not like today where they sell for more per pound than breast or whole chickens.  My mother would take what seemed like hundreds of wings, lay them out on baking sheets, brush them with sour cream and some sort of herb mixture.  I think it may have been packets of italian dressing mix.  Hot out of the oven they were *so* good and *so* messy, just what kids love!

The other is mushrooms.  My father was a civil engineer for the city, and on some weekends he'd augment his income with some land surveying jobs.  One weekend he and the fellow who usually worked with him went out mushroom hunting in some areas they had spotted while surveying.  Dad came back with a huge pile of wild mushrooms ( yes, they knew what they were doing. )  Mom started frying them up in butter, I was outside playing, most likely, and remember coming into the kitchen to be confronted with a HORRIBLE smell- sauted 'shrooms!

If only I knew then ...  After such an adverse initial exposure, I'm surprised at how much I have loved mushrooms for the past few decades.  I still hate canned peas and the jury is out on brussells sprouts.

mjb.


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## genemachine (Sep 26, 2012)

Hm..... My childhood was unremarkable, from a culinary point of view. Both parents worked, so my grandmother prepared most of the meals. And, sorry, gran, she couldn't cook her way out of a wet paper bag....

Thus, I will tell the story of another first culinary experience. A couple of years ago, my best friend, someone I know since school times (and back then the dinosaurs were still around) had a daughter. He and his wife are not really into cooking, either. So, whenever I visit - rarely, since we live quite a bit apart now - I always offer to cook for them. Well, I did visit them and made a simple Italian menu. Their daughter, not much more than a year old, by then, had never eaten anything but baby food out of the glass. When I served my simple homemade tagliatelle with fresh tomatoes out of the garden, she looked at our plates, and I asked if she could have some. 

Welll, she slurped it up, smiled and said "MMMMMMMHHHH"! That was the first time she ever ate anything home-made. That was the proudest moment in my cooking career. And up to this day, whenever I visit my friends, she comes up to me and asks "Uncle Gene, will you cook for us today?". I still think that is the highest praise I ever got for my cooking. No award could top that.


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## chefbillyb (Feb 8, 2009)

After breast feeding, it was all up hill. My Mom was a great cook, Homemade soups and stews, Italian, Polish, Slovak, American dishes. The birthday special for me was her homemade lasagna, chunks of meatballs and Italian sausage in a homemade sauce. The best lasagna I have ever had, If she was alive today she would be in my kitchen in a heartbeat cooking good old fashion comfort food............Chefbillyb


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## mikeswoods (Jun 14, 2013)

My mothers family were country folks---and canning time was one of my favorite memories---

I especially liked jelly making days----we got to help---and eat the foamy jelly that was skimmed off before bottling----to this day I love home made jelly---


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## cerise (Jul 5, 2013)

I have many fond food memories, being born & raised in New York.  Grew up on the lower east side, and vaguely remember pushcarts of food - fruits & vegetables, the fulton fish market, fabulous bakeries, delis & even the good humor man.  lol. One of my favorite memories, as a child,  was Horn and Hardart's Automat. You put coins in a machine, turned the knob, and food came out.  Mom would take me to the automat (after a good helping of mac n cheese, or whatever), & we would go to Radio City Music Hall to see a movie and the Rockettes.  She also took me to a restaurant called The Italian Kitchen.  Chefs were tossing pizzas in the air in the window.  There were little jukeboxes on the table.  I loved (& would always order) the veal parmesan w/ French fries or spaghetti.  We moved to Brooklyn, and one of my favorite memories was Charlotte Russe's from the bakery. (below).  You eat the cherry & whipped cream on top, keep pushing the cardboard container from the bottom, until you get to the sponge cake on the bottom. I ate my first lobster at Max's Kansas City in Manhattan.  It was rumored Andy Warhol rode in on a horse.  Ha. So many fond memories.


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## zagut (Dec 30, 2013)

I have a hard time remembering what I had for breakfast let alone my first food memory.

As to my favorite there are too many good ones to pick 1 favorite.

But two that came to mind reading this thread were............

First is my Grandmothers housekeepers Fried Chicken. I asked her about it after I grew up and all she did was use Flour, salt, and pepper. But man was it good. I think she added a little bit of love to the recipe. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/redface.gif Bless you Ethel where ever you are.

Second is my Aunt Helens Mustard Pickle. It was such fun helping (As much as a kid can) in a busy kitchen and then being able to enjoy the results through out the year.


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