Early Food Memories.. 

It is said that the early encounters we have with food through our senses of taste, smell and touch influence the way we view those same foods as an adult. One bad experience with a type of food, or a mixture of flavours, (even if we do not consciously remember it) can trigger a rejection of the food when offered to us later in life.

 This article from BBC News, 'Food memories influence tastes', publishes a survey which discovered that almost half of its participants did not remember ever trying food which gave them a negative food memory. 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7987868.stm


Interestingly, food or flavour memories can be entirely psychological, and connected to something similar which you were fed even as young as a baby. I don't really know of many foods that trigger bad memories for me, but I can remember the good stuff. 

 Most of my memories of food, from the earliest I can remember, are food I experienced at childhood parties. Children's birthday parties, especially those thrown for our own birthday as a child, seem to be the first experience we have as a child of the act of food being provided for our peers' benefit, rather than just our own. And who can forget the pies-ta resistance of a child's birthday party....THE PARTY BAG. 

Personalized with our name, and containing sweets, toys and a mandatory slice of birthday cake wrapped in tissue, a party bag is a small present which we can receive even if it isn't our birthday. All with the added bonus, a factor which is of great importance to an average child, of the element of competition eliminated- with each bag being equally filled. Children can share in the excitement of opening these bags of treats, and they enable the party atmosphere to continue even after the party has finished.

Traditional party bag contents:
Balloons

Birthday cake
Bubbles
Sweets
Toy

The first birthday party of mine I can remember is my fourth birthday. I remember helping my parents to choose the food we laid out, but the part that they remember the most is catching me sneakily sampling the food before my guests had even arrived- which is why they took this picture below....

The lack of self-control I have always had when it comes to food, and the impatient appetite I still display as an adult, began here...

'Its my party and I'll cry eat if I want to'

As a child I also remember being obsessed with cakes which were made from cereal (Rice Crispies chocolate cakes, Shredded Wheat nests, Corn Flake chocolate nests, etc..), after making them at school one Easter. I don't really remember ever making any myself at home,but I would regularly force my mum to make some for me. And I'd watch. With the Easter holidays approaching (and just for an excuse to make some yummy treats) I'm making some good old fashioned Corn Flake chocolate nests. They're so easy to make, and as an adult I've convinced myself they are also healthy because they include a low-sugar breakfast cereal. 

 

These cakes literally take minutes to make, just two large bars of melted chocolate and a spoonful of butter, mixed with corn flakes and refrigerated. Simple and completely yummy... although they didn't last long in the fridge! 

Born to love food?

It is commonly stated that the lifestyle habits which we display are adopted due to learned behaviour, and influences we experienced as a child. This must also apply to the relationship we have with food. The aim of this blog is to explore how our childhood experiences and influences effect our relationship with food, by incorporating my own food memories from growing up and how they shaped my attitude towards food as an adult.

It is certain that we don't really begin to appreciate food until we are able to feed it to ourselves. By all accounts for the first two years of my life I just used to throw my food at the walls. Or maybe, as babies, we are secret food snobs and are perfectly aware that the mush we are being fed is far from a delicacy and are waiting in vane for the day we can devour real solids? Let's face it, if any of us were served this now, we would refuse to pay...

When it all began... 

As children we go though multiple phases with regards to food, from refusing to eat it at all as a baby, to choosing a particular food which we favour over all other food, having to be bribed and persuaded to consume parts of our dinner which we deemed as healthy and therefore disgusting, and eventually reaching a point of maturity where we begin to appreciate food. But which factors and responses to this journey help shape a relationship with food that will stick with us forever?