I lived on my own for most of my twenties, and although I usually had a boyfriend or friends to have dinner with, I had many meals to myself. During that time, I didn't eat very well, and survived on some pretty sad meals.
When I was really poor, I would eat spaghetti noodles and ketchup, with a sprinkling of Kraft Parmesan cheese - that was my spaghetti. Or I would make a type of sloppy joe using up some stale bread for the bun. Or a double batch of Tuna Helper Au Gratin was what you served when some friends came over.
Fast-forward several years and there are a couple more people in my house, and a bit more money and much more food on my shelves, but you know what? I still crave some of those foods. My husband thinks I'm insane but I'm sure I'm not the only one. Isn't that what comfort food is all about? Food that you ate when times may not have been good but they were certainly memorable?
Like the time I ate spaghetti in a glass that was heated on a BBQ. Sure it was 3am at some university student's house and we had all been drinking, but still... those were good times. Good times.
2 comments:
smells and tastes trigger memories. yup, i agree that that's what comfort food is all about. even weird stuff from when i was a kid. like having pancakes for supper. my mom would make that into a "special treat" and we thought it was super fun, but it was probably really because she had no money or was too tired to cook something more.
Hee hee - we have 'breakfast for dinner' on Tuesday's. And everyone loves it - pancakes, Malt-o-Meal, Cream of Wheat, eggs - that's what I cook for dinner.
And you're right, we find out as adults the reasons behind some of the things we had as kids - but as kids it was a fun and special treat!
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