Awhile ago, in Anthro 372, we were discussing the role of food in evoking memory and identity... Food is a powerful tool, connecting us with people, time and place, and it seems that everyone has their own food (a baked good, a packaged snack, an entire meal, anything), that is laden with emotional and symbolic significance. What we eat reveals what we are, and what we are not (Belasco: 26).
I thought I would leave a small blurb from Volume I of Proust's Remembrance of Things Past (or In Search of Lost Time), that describes his memory in connection with the madeleine, as well as an 'exercise' from Belasco's "Food: The Key Concepts" on the same topic.
(These ones are from Duchess)
"And suddenly the memory returned. The taste was that of the little crumb of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray,... my aunt Leonie used to give me, dipping it first in her own cup of lime-flower tea. And once I recognized the taste of the... madeleine soaked in her decoction of lime-flowers..., immediately the old grey house... rose up like the scenery of a theatre to attach itself to the little pavilion, opening on to the garden, which had been built out behind it for my parents; and with the house the town... the Square, where I was sent before luncheon, the streets along which I used to run errands, the country roads we took when it was fine (Belasco: 25)."
For class, we were asked to come up with our own madeleine, but of course, I'm not grading you, so I'll just leave the 'assignment' details. Here are some things to help you along if you'd like:
- Is [your madeleine] a positive, negative, or somewhere in between?
- Is it a comfort food or a discomfort food? A medium for conflict or reunion?
- Is it homemade or commercial?
I've decided that my madeleine is Yorkshire Pudding... my Mom's. A little too doughy, but a great reminder of big family meals during my Nanny's visits.
(Belasco, Warren. 2008. "Food: The Key Concepts". Berg: Oxford UK.)
