I rarely got sick as a kid. But in the few instances that I did, I always knew what to
expect- a healthy dose of TV time and a prescriptive cheese quesadilla, plus tomato soup for
dipping.
I haven’t eaten that specific dish in years, but I can still remember the fragrant, overly
sweet smell of tomato puree wafting through the air. I can hear the pop of butter, hot in the
pan, and smell the cheddar that managed to slip out of it’s protective tortilla pouch, now
slightly burnt.
Give me a quesadilla today and I’m instantly back on the couch of my southern California
abode, watching Arthur and relishing in the undivided attention from Mom.
Food is the closest thing we have to time travel. It elicits sensory memory that can
transports us back to better days- ones filled with innocence, curiosity, support of our loved
ones. Eating’s involvement of all five senses- especially scent- trigger memory and emotion.
We don’t just remember food, but it’s social and cultural connotations, the people we shared it
with, and the environment we dined in.
And now, more than ever, contemporary restaurateurs are embracing food nostalgia.
Have you noticed how many gourmet donut shops or mac ‘n’ cheese bars are popping up in
every major city? There have always been restaurants that hearken back to simpler times, but
the resurgence seems to be at an all-time high.
While this very well may be a rebellion against the clean eating trend of late, I believe
there are deeper-seeded motives. Certain niches of society are reclaiming sugar and fat and
processed food- not due to nutrition (or lack thereof), but because it’s what many of us grew
up on. Now, these items are being remarketed for and by young consumers.
Millennials, who make up about 23% of small business owners1, are being labeled more
nostalgic than any other generational groups before us. Whether this is true is still up for
debate, but there’s reasoning as to why we may be experiencing “early-onset” nostalgia.
We have witnessed a lot of trauma in a relatively short amount of time. We yearn for a
pre-9/11 utopia where violence only existed in our video games- and even then, only
moderately. And while we’re on that note, we are the youngest generation to remember a time
without the Internet. One minute the iPod Click Wheel was being released, and no one could
believe that a world of music was suddenly available at their fingertips. Then, next thing you
know, infants are toting around tablets and cars are beginning to drive themselves. Things
have progressed very quickly. It makes many of us question what happened to our youth.
It only makes sense that we would turn to comfort through food. I won’t speak on the
psychology of childlike regression, but I can attest to the benefits of wistful eating.
Through food, we are attempting to recreate moments from our past. And it works, in
part. When we eat “comfort foods”, we trigger neuroreceptors in the brain that elicit pleasure
and relieve stress. (These are the same neurons that are active during sex). And no, FYI,
1
Simon, Ruth. "Endangered Species: Young U.S. Entrepreneurs." WSJ. Dow Jones & Company, Inc., 2015.