Sunday 21 February 2010

100th post!!!! Childhood food memories

As a vegan, many of the foods I enjoyed as a child I no longer consume (well not in the same form at least).

Nevertheless, I still have fond memories of baking with my sister and my mum. I remember often making what we called 'cheesy biscuits', which were basically savory biscuits with cheese added to them. What was most fun this (other than eating them) was the wide range of different shapes we made from cookie-cutters that my mum had bought. I also remember baking bread, which I enjoyed because you could take out any aggression on the dough when kneading it before putting it into the oven!

In terms of meals, a firm favourite was macaroni cheese. I never actually made this myself but as people knew I was such a fan, I often ate it when staying with my Grandma (always in front of a Postman Pat video- of which I was also a big fan!) When my mum made it and there were leftovers, I would always eat them for breakfast the next day!

I have made vegan versions of macaroni cheese and although I am sure they bear little resemblance to 'real' macaroni cheese, I find they are tasty and always invoke strong memories of when I enjoyed this meal as a child. For me, there is definitely something special about childhood food memories and I find that they are particularly vivid.

Anyone like to share any childhood food memories?

3 comments:

Sarah said...

Every saturday my dad used to bake bread using an old family recipe. So, every saturday I used to have a cheese sandwich made with the bread straight out of the oven. I can still remember spreading the butter onto a slice and it melting with the warmth of the bread. Ironically I'm now intolerant to gluten and dairy! Funny how life happens sometimes.

Vaala ◪ said...

Definitely making gingerbread cookies with my brothers. Mum would make the mixture (and it would make HEAPS) and roll it out then we would spend ages using the different cookie cutters and decorating them (and eating a fair amount of the mixture too!). Mum still makes them sometimes and even veganises the recipe so she can send me home with some!

Vegan Kid said...

Funnily enough, my most vivid childhood food memories weren't homemade things. I used to be an incredibly difficult child to feed and besides baked beans and rice crispies (not together mind you - hehe) I didn't eat much.

The one thing that plays most in my mind for a childhood food was this maple and pecan pie that we would have as a treat at the weekends. They used to stock them back in the 90's but were discontinued and I absoutely loved them. They always discontinue the things I love... =(

Similarly things like Kelloggs Winders, Cheesestrings and those little packs of sunmaid raisins evoke fond memories of packed lunch during my school days. Oh good times they were =)

Holidays make me think of specific food memories like halloween my mum did me (as we would describe) a "picky tea" where she would have prepared lots of different foods in inventive ways and label them to mak them sound gruesome e.g. Orange Squash = witches wee and grapes with a raisin attached = Ogres eyeballs! I used to love that!