Food, like music, is amazingly transportive. One bite of a Wham bar takes me back to my youth when all Summer my friend and I would load up on sweets and play games all day and some nights too, whenever we had a sleepover. Humans are sentimental beings, and the power of memory is strong and distinctly rose coloured. Nostalgia is a sentimental yearning, or wistful memory, a longing to return to some real or romanticised period or irrecoverable condition or setting in the past.
As we grow older we look back fondly at our youth, often forgetting the more difficult aspects such as acne, social awkwardness and trying to find ones way in the world. As a gamer in his early 30s there are certain sweets and foods that have become embedded in my memory, not just because of how they taste, but because of the feelings I originally had around them. I associate a particular food with an event or an experience. For example, I remember having lunch at school and being given cauliflower and cheese and the smell of it made me vomit. In contrast Cola bottles remind me of playing Super Mario Brothers around my friends house on his NES. With certain foods you create a link that continues to exist, even years later. So here are a few of my favourites. I have a huge stash of sweets that I eat when I am gaming, it reminds me of my youth and is my comfort food. What sweets do you associated with your gaming past?
