Is there a food that makes you happy, even just thinking about it? This was the question my friend Alison asked her followers on Twitter the other night.
My initial thought was ‘I’ve got so many’. So many that prompt a smile and a stirring of the taste buds. I could choose:
A plate of fresh mussels. This one qualifies twice, first from a childhood holiday to Italy when we stayed at a campsite by the beach. It must have been deep in the south as I remember also visiting Sicily on the trip. The campsite had a waterside bar with outside tables and we sat one evening eating fresh mussels, caught by the local fisherman earlier in the day. Their salty, succulent flavour was unlike anything I’d ever tasted before and they’ve been a lifelong favourite.
My second mussels infused memory is the first evening of my first visit to Paris. Sat outside again, maybe mussels should always be eaten alfresco, this time at a Latin Quarter bistro. The trip was the fulfilment of a long-held dream and for the second time in my life a plate of seafood had me thinking ‘it doesn’t get better than this’
My mothers chocolate biscuit set. Mum had a book full of recipes from a cookery course she’d taken when living in London in the early sixties. She’d often dip into it and this one was always my favourite. Looking back I suppose it wasn’t unlike what I know now as a Rocky Road.
It was made with dark rich chocolate, crushed biscuits, nuts and cherries. It was set solid in a cake tin, I remember it being sliced almost like bread, and eating it with a portion of vanilla ice cream was heaven. Writing this hasn’t just made me smile, it’s made me think I must check to see whether dad still has those recipes.
An Angel Cake. If your reading this outside of the UK I probably need to explain that an Angel Cake is a three-layer sponge, one white, one pink, one yellow. All sandwiched together with vanilla cream. If I was ever lucky enough to have a slice I’d always separate the layers and eat the cream before going onto the sponge. Until recently I’d thought of Angel Cake as a shop-bought childhood treat, something I had very rarely these days. This was until the last series of Great British Bake Off when they cropped up as one of the challenges. I had to have a go, managed to create the multi-coloured sponges, and now I can indulge whenever I want to.
I could have picked any of these, but in the end, I plumped for something more recent. Something that makes me pine as much as it makes me smile. The joy of ordering a piece of cake to go with my cup of coffee. Here in Norwich, we’re blessed with a fine array of independent coffees hops and pre coronavirus I was a regular at many of them. Figbar is my favourite and it’s the thought of going back there at some point this year for a slice of their hundreds & thousands cake that I’m smiling about.
Is there a food that makes you happy, even just thinking about it?
David in the kitchen. 