THE TASTE OF MEMORY

Why do some meals vanish as quickly as the dishes are cleared, while others stay with us for a lifetime?

It is not just because they are remarkable. Often, they are actually quite simple. Ordinary, even. A piece of toast, buttered exactly the way you like it. Or a bowl of rice eaten quietly after receiving difficult news.

The answer lies in the wiring of our brains.

Smell and taste travel straight to memory, bypassing logic entirely. They go directly to the emotional centres, the limbic system, where feelings, nostalgia, and fragments of our lives are stored without us even realising it.

When we remake a recipe from our past, it acts like a key.

It unlocks the memories stored within it, bringing back fragments of the original experience. Sometimes it is a specific moment. Sometimes it is just a feeling.

It is the reason a mouthful can transport you back into a kitchen you have not stood in for decades, or allow you to hear again the gentle, busy sounds of someone no longer here.

This is why protecting special recipes matters.

They do more than feed us. They connect us to who we are, where we came from, and the people who shaped us.