…Memory, good memories and bad memories.

My grandma came up with a lot of her own recipes. I used to stay with her when school was out (when I lived in Rwanda) and I loved it! I loved my grandparents and all of my memories with them are good.

My grandma loved to feed me and to talk so most of my memories are centred around that.

Recently I got the urge to make a cake we all call ‘Grandma’s cake’ because she made it up. It is essentially a type of sponge cake. I got the recipe from my mom and it seemed easy but I was apprehensive because me and cake do not have a good history.

However the cake came out almost perfect and tasted just how I remembered it. The happiness I felt. It was like I was transported to those nights where she would feed me cake and milk. (This cake goes great with tea).

It’s not just cake but the fritters she used to make, just the smell of them takes me to Ruhengeri where she used to live.

Unfortunately I have bad food memories too. There’s this vegetable in Rwanda called intoryi and I hate it. I hate it with a passion! I didn’t like it as a child and I was forced, not by my grandma, to eat it. Well, I couldn’t leave the table till I did and it ended up making me sick. And I hate throwing up.

So when I moved to England I thought I’d escaped it but I smelt it in the beans my aunty made and I realised, *gasp* it had followed me!

Lucky for me the vegetable has a really strong smell, that or I’ve developed a strong sense of smell in order to track them as my aunty likes to hide them in beans.

They’re like small aubergines.

So whenever I smell them I feel negative emotions. I’m transported to that night when I had to sit there and eat it. *shudders*

It’s fascinating isn’t it? How food can take you there. How one dish can bring good memories and how another can bring bad ones. I used to think it only happened with songs or movies but no, it happens with food too.

What food takes you back in time? Do you have a food that triggers memories?