11 Times Food Brought Back Sweet Memories of Family Members

Cooking
3 days ago

Food carries more than just taste and nutrition. It carries memories of the people who made it, and most of us have a favorite dish we love the way our mothers, or other family members made it. Here go some such nostalgic food stories, with a recipe or two, that will bring a smile to your face, and maybe, a whiff of the warmth and happiness it used to fill the kitchen with. Here’s to people no longer at our tables.

1. Every year for Christmas, my grandpa would get all the grandkids together to make Christmas sugar cookies.

I’m always a bit shocked looking back, because we were so rambunctious, but he found each of us our best job in the cookie making process. I have a framed copy of the recipe in his hand-writing:

1 c. shortening (he used half butter, half margarine)
3 c. flour (AP)
2 eggs
1¼ c. sugar
1½ tbsp milk
1½ tsp baking powder
1½ tsp vanilla

  • Mix together and then chill for at least 30 minutes. Roll out and cut into your favorite shapes.
  • Bake at 375 Fahrenheit for 10–12 minutes.
  • Shovel them in your face, piping hot. Well, the last instruction is more a recommendation, since that’s still my favorite way to eat sugar cookies. SquareEarthTruther / Reddit

2. My aunt was known as the artsy one and made so many of our desserts.

She died suddenly this year. Her sugar cookies and pecan lassies had to be hidden, or they would be gone immediately. She always made the deviled eggs, even though her brothers made fun of them, calling them “death balls” (cholesterol).

She learned how to make tamales from a woman at work so we gringos could have a little Southwest flavor for Christmas. I’m making tamales this year in her memory. I should ask my cousin for her mom’s sugar cookie recipe. fermenttodothat / Reddit

3. One of the last conversations I had with my grandma was about signature recipes and traditions.

I asked her if she had any recipes that she would consider her signature, her go-to to take to parties, or that she always made for guests. She said it would probably be the tea ring she used to make. I vaguely remember her making it when I was a kid, but since she never really felt confident in the kitchen and thus never really enjoyed cooking, it had been years since she made it.

I asked her if she would share the recipe with me, and she said she would look for it, but unfortunately her memory was already pretty bad by that point, and she never did. About two weeks later, she was gone. My mom and her sisters remember the tea ring, but nobody can agree what cookbook the recipe came from, and some of the ones they remember her having have gone missing over the years. I know there are other recipes out there that are probably pretty close, but I still have this sense of loss that it’s not hers. GingerPhoenix / Reddit

4. I stumbled across a folder of recipes my mom had sent me after I moved to my first apartment in college.

In the months immediately following my mom’s death, this was my favorite way of remembering and feeling connected to her. Many of them came with little notes or doodles etched in the margins. It’s one of my prized possessions and I take it out to reminisce and make a recipe, every now and then. invertedparallel / Reddit

5. My aunt was a really good cook, and she had a handful of “signature recipes” she often made for family gatherings.

We lost her recently. Her artichoke ravioli are one of my strongest food memories, I must ask my cousin if she can share the recipe with me. I also have her sweet and sour zucchini antipasto recipe that I love so much and make every summer.

My grandma is alive, but she started losing memory some years ago. She had her recipe book which was only made of ingredients lists, because “I remember how to make it, no need for writing the method,” so I tried to piece together my aunt’s and my mom’s memories and find the method for some of those. I was able to make three of my grandma’s recipes for my brother’s wedding some months ago, and I couldn’t be happier. Jamin-a / Reddit

6. I come from a family of 8 kids (7 girls and a boy at the end) and I have 6 kids of my own.

We are kind of food hobbyists. My son has made an online cookbook of family recipes. We all have access to it. It has recipes from my husband’s father (who catered as a second job), from my Danish ancestors, and all the family favorites old and new.

There is a running list at the beginning of recipe requests. It is a treasure, and I’m so thankful for a techy son who put it all together and keeps it updated. sixsisters / Reddit

7. One of my grandma’s most famous recipe was her apple pie.

She passed in 2009 and people still talk to me about it whenever they see an apple pie (“I remember your grandmother would make the best apple pie...”). Unfortunately, my uncle’s ex-wife is the only one with the recipe, and she refuses to give it to me, the only real baker in the family now.

Instead, I’ve got my own recipe that I’ve accumulated from the internet and tested a ton before I feel proud to call it mine. I use the spiralizer that my grandma would use to core, peel, and cut the apples before they went in, and using it reminds me of her. It might not be her recipe, but it’s made in her honor, and it’s enough for me. agileguardian / Reddit

8. My mom used to make consommé rice.

Cook some rice and butter in a pan until a bit browned, then put in a baking dish with diced celery and a can of Campbell’s beef consommé soup. And she probably added some water, depending on how much rice was used. Baked, but I don’t know at what oven temp or how long. Most of her other recipes were fairly simple (e.g. box mixes or few ingredients) or from my grandmother, which was hit or miss.

But I loved that rice. I’ve never even tried to make it. She passed in October this year, so I might try it soon. MyMorningSun / Reddit

9. My mother was an OK cook.

But one of my fondest memories (she passed a year ago this week), every year, was making Kourabiedes (aka Greek cloud cookies) for Christmas. It wasn’t “her” recipe, but I recently found her sheet of paper with a recipe on it, that has her handwritten notes and some old buttery smudges...

My sister and I are going to make them together next week. kaudrey / Reddit

10. My grandma used to make fudge for my brother and I every Christmas.

[Edited] The first year after she passed, we didn’t expect any, obviously. Come morning, we were surprised to see there was a box of fudge under the tree for us. We were in our twenties at the time. My dad had decided he would carry on that tradition using her recipe. The fudge tasted fine, but were dry, grainy, crumbly messes.

My dad doesn’t do any cooking at all, and apparently that was the best of the 4 batches he tried. It’s been multiple decades since then, and he still makes us fudge for the holidays. It’s never the same, and it’s never like grandma’s was. We always joke about how it’s going to turn out this year, and it’s the new tradition. skodi / Reddit

11. My grandmother passed away shortly after I got married.

I was pregnant, had cravings, and all I wanted to eat was a SECRET chicken curry that she used to make. My mom tried, but it didn’t taste as good. One day, when I got back from work, I could smell my Grandma’s dish. When I asked my husband, he was surprised and said that it was a recipe given to him by a colleague, and he just wanted to try it out. He had eaten it at an office potluck party once.

After we enjoyed the chicken (I pigged out), I checked the recipe out, and sure enough, it tastes like Grandma’s cooking every time she made it. It’s an Indian dish, common from where my husband co-worker hails from, so I wonder how my Irish grandmother got to know about it well enough to ace it every time.

If this had made your mouth water, we don’t blame you. On the flip side, though, are these men who clearly don’t belong in the kitchen at all!

Comments

Get notifications
Lucky you! This thread is empty,
which means you've got dibs on the first comment.
Go for it!

Related Reads