What is it about food that makes the majority of us nostalgic?
I started my work day yesterday talking about tea with my coworker. She mentioned that as a regular tea-drinker, she prefers her tea without sweetener or milk. I tend to agree with that choice.
However, as I was working on another task, I got to thinking how very opposite my Grandmother would feel about that.
So as not to confuse my audience, I wrote about my Grandmother Paula recently, but this mention is in regard to my Grandmother Jean.
Grammy Jean would never drink tea without milk. It stands to reason that she would be this way though as she is British, and tea without milk simply isn’t done.
In so many ways, Grammy Jean is a more or less a casual, American woman. She favors sweatsuits over dressing up. She prefers television over books. She likes going to Macy’s. She lives for sales. And she loves Christmastime and any holiday with her extended family. But, in this one small way, she has maintained an element of the refined British tea house sensibility (along with a penchant for citrus hard candies). It is this hybrid pairing that makes her fascinating.
My Grammy Jean is a silly person. She asserts that she isn’t all that smart, but if you talk to her for a moment or two, I believe your conversation would reveal quite the opposite. She is excellent at hitting a point square on the nose. Witty and funny, yet she always undersells those qualities in lieu of an audience’s attention.
One of her most favorite things to do when we used to play Michigan Rummy was to say she had “four of thems,” when we all knew that she knew the suit’s name. She just wanted to make a splash in the conversation.
So as you can see…everything that has been stated in this entry so far came simply from milk and tea…a rather basic combination of things that, when stirred produces a memory that is quite visceral.
On the other hand, I will always associate potatoes with my late Grandfather Romeo (Grammy Jean’s husband and the inspiration for a secondary character, Marsden in my in process novel). Why? It’s because though Grammy Jean did much of the cooking, Grampy made the things people remember and love.
Like massive potato wedges and pea soup. The latter of which, I could give or take…it was tasty as far as pea soup went…but I can’t remember a time when I’ve craved that. I can recall many occasions when I have longed for Grampy’s potato wedges though…
I feel like my Stepmother and I were the biggest fans of the heavy, golden snacks, but I’m sure my Father would disagree as he ate his fair share.
I guess today, though many things make me think of my relatives, I am struck by how the simple mention of food item can pull forth a time and a place long gone.
What scents and smells and tastes drive you to feel nostalgic?