Food and Memory

In Food and memory, Jon Holtzman’s notes that the “sensuality of food causes it to be a particularly intense and compelling medium for memory. The experience of food evokes recollection, which is not simply cognitive but also emotional and physical… (p 365)” Food is never forgotten after it has been consumed. The food you eat and your experience while eating that food is kept in your memory. These memories intertwine with emotion and physicality. You begin to recall whether you felt satisfied or dissatisfied with the food you consumed; did you crave more of it after you eat that food? The thought of eating a particular vegetable for example, might remind you of your childhood and how you so desperately avoided eating the broccoli or cauliflower your mother served you. Food not only eliminates hunger and provide the body with nutrients but is also arouses and stimulates taste buds, gratifies a craving and triggers memories. Connections are made between the food and your body and stored in your memory.
There is not a food that does not remind me of a specific event in my life, and how that food made me feel at the time I consumed it. My experiences with food have been incredible but I have had food that has made me regret ever eating it. I lived on campus my freshman and sophomore year and remember eating pasta every other day at the dorm room cafeteria. I remember the cream based pasta sitting so heavily in my stomach and the starchy pasta aftertaste in my mouth as I walked back to my door room. Till this day the smell of alfredo sauce or marinara sauce triggers memories of discomfort; goose bumps run up and down my back and I suddenly feel bloated…