Hello Everyone! I am a young food writer living in Toronto Canada and I am currently working on a cookbook anthology about conventional and unconventional meals that totally marked a person for life: like the Porterhouse Steak and Coconut Cream Pie my father had at the Hilton Hotel on Waikiki Beach back in the 60s when he was a merchant marine, was a definitive moment of the carefree celebration of youth-he’s been talking about that dinner ever since I was a little girl. Anybody have a story to share?
The most memorable meals I have had in my lifetime have been when I have been famished or fatigued from working more strenuously than I normally had. The food itself may have not been that much more exceptional but because of my mental state prior to eating it, the food made a much stronger impression on my mind and the memory of it more indelible.
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The grilled ribeye steak my mom made after I spend the day loading hay one summer I was in high school.
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The spaghetti bolognase we had in a Chicago eatery after spending all day sight seeing and probably walking about 20 miles.
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The club sandwich and fries on the beach in Barbados, after a long day in the sun and playing 36 holes of golf.
I know that I’ve had better meals with better quality food, than those examples, but they are some of the most memorable to me as being tasty and satisfying.
I can think of several notable means- Vegas, Grand Hotel in Mackinaw.
The most memorable taste for me was eating wild muskrat in the 60’s in the upper peninsula of Michigan. I probably had worked up an appetite by fishing, farming or firing. That muskrat was so well prepared to melt in the mouth. It’s a very dark meat and a once in a lifetime experience for me.
Some good ones here: Tell me about the best meal you've ever had - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board
I agree with Omar Little in the second post. Sometimes it’s not just the quality of the food but the circumstances.
I used to dislike eggs over easy. But after surgery I spent the night at my folks house. When I got up in the morning and shuffled slowly into the kitchen my mom told me to sit down and she’d fix me breakfast. I got buttered toast, bacon, and over easy eggs. I couldn’t tell her I wouldn’t like the eggs, so I ate them with the toast, and surprised myself by finding I really like them.
I’ve eaten exactly the same meal since, and it’s always good, but that one time, when my body really needed food, and I felt so down, was really special.
The best thing I ever had to DRINK was sweetened iced tea, with a little lemon in it. It was during basic training, after I’d joined the Army. This was in South Carolina, in August, hot and humid as it could possibly be. We were on a long hike, and our drill sargeant surprised us by having the tea set up for us about two-thirds of the way through. Nothing ever felt so good sliding down my throat as that tea.
Drill Sgt. Carol Ogg, if by the slimmest of chances you should ever hear of this post, let me tell you I’ll be forever grateful for that tea.
So many choices!
On vacation, I decided to take a chance and try something I’d never had before – snow crab. Also chowder, cole slaw, boiled potatoes, and an ice cold beer. I was accompanied by someone I loved, and it was a warm summer night in my favorite place in the world, on an outside deck overlooking the ocean.
There was another time when we’d spent the day at the beach, and didn’t know what to do about dinner. We finally decided on a really awesome BBQ place. We were famished, and we had to wait a really long time for our food. (The place usually has lines out the door.) On the way home the intoxicating aroma of BBQy goodness was filling up the car. It took an enormous amount of willpower not to climb into the back seat and satisfy my BBQ lust right then and there.
The most recent memorable experience would probably have to be the first time I had Chilean Sea Bass. It was at The Beach House at St. Kitts, a beautiful evening and having arrived a little early we had the entire place to ourselves. The service, food and atmosphere were all equally magnificent and it made for the perfect Mother’s Day for my wife from the daughter and I.
‘Memorable’ does not mean ‘good’.
I remember going out to a ‘nice’ restaurant in eastern Montana, well away from any roads that’d know first-hand what a ‘rush hour’ is, and ending up with an experience out of a sitcom. A ‘wacky’ sitcom.
The proprietors had heard of ‘mood lighting’ and decided that they wanted seconds. This meant the meal was conducted in the kind of half-light you associate with periods of minor emergency. I could not reliably see across the table, and reaching out to find food was a minor feat of rote recollection.
Not that the food was all that great. IGA does many things acceptably, but crudités are not among them. I can think of many culinary sensations that have easily topped the experience of eating Velveeta in the dark; however, none came instantly to mind when I saw the thread title. This restaurant was the absolute perfect example of someone completely misunderstanding an entire cultural experience, and I guess you don’t easily forget your first archetype.
Memorable good:
-The lemongrass/coconut milk soup I had in Hawaii on my honeymoon
-The lobster I had at my sister’s wedding (even though my nose was stopped up and I couldn’t taste much, it was still one of the best meals I’ve ever had)
Memorable bad:
-The capybara I had on the way up a mountain in Peru (really, really stringy and stinky)
-The cow brains I ate in Indiana just to say I had
In that case, one stong memory is not about the meal itself, but about the check.
There were four of us. The check was about $80 after the tip. We each put in $20. But counting the money, it only totalled up to $75. So we all put in more money. It added up to $70. So we put in more. It added up to even less. The more we put in, the less it totalled to. After we’d each put in about $200, it totalled to 37 cents, IIRC.
Four reasonably smart guys, and we couldn’t figure it out.
We once did the full Thanksgiving dinner: Turkey, Ham, dressing, gravy, corn, green beans, potatoes, croisants, cherry and apple pie with whipped cream.
Under a cliff, using dutch ovens 40 miles from the nearest light bulb.
Regards,
Shodan
I’m reasonably smart, too, but what are you on about?
Joe
My sixteenth birthday.
My mom knew I had a crush on her co-worker so she had him take me out to dinner at his parents’ restaurant. One of the finest in town at the time. It’s still pretty exclusive.
I had never been anywhere higher-class than Shakey’s pizza at the time and I was scared to death. I learned about proper silverware and table manners and we shopped for days to find the right dress, heels, hose, etc. I was uncomfortable the entire time. I didn’t know how to order a steak, so I repeated what I’d heard on TV and asked for medium-rare. It was bloody, and I couldn’t eat anything but around the edges. The entire time my date was cracking jokes, I’m sure trying to help ease my stress but I just got more nervous.
But I did it! I didn’t embarrass myself or my family during the entire dinner. . .
Until we were walking out, and my half-slip (I’d borrowed my mom’s and she was about sixteen sizes bigger than me) came unpinned and fell down as we were walking to the door. I didn’t realize it until it was at my ankles and we were standing in front of just about every eye in the place, or at least it seemed that way.
There have been two, and they were about six months apart.
The first time I ever ate sushi was in Indonesia, of all places. The head of the purchasing department took all of us contractors out to dinner one night. I was nervous as all hell - ya know, the “yuk, raw fish” thing - and was incredibly surprised and have been a sushi addict ever since.
When I got back home, my gf said that dinner was on her the next night once I got over my jet lag. She fixed an absolutely outstanding steak dinner and then screwed my socks off for dessert. 
Last Saturday. Wife, SIL and myself went out for a very nice wine dinner. 5 courses, free flowing wine, good southwestern cuisine, Pork Mole to die for.
I had a Szechuan button (blossom) for the first time. That was really wild, I’m sure I’m waay behind the curve, but Wow. Mouth just tingled for a long time. It was supposed to be a palate cleanser, just Wow.
Anyway, with the wine flowing freely eveybody got sloppy drunk. Within a few seconds the guy accross from us went from pretty obviously feeling up his wife to both of them telling SIL that they want their kids to grow up just like the SIL.
Apparently, we bought three additional bottles of wine and I took it upon myself to take another one. Also apparently, thankfully I have expensive taste. I barely remember any of this. Really embarassed doing this, but God the food was so good, I want to be invited to the next one. I have no idea what inspired me to go back to my Klepto teenage ways. The hangover was almost (but not quite) worth the cost.
You’re supposed to figure out where the missing dollar went, but actually it’s all in the phrasing of the question.
You were just turning 16. How old was he? :eek:
Is this a whoosh? I’m not sure what klepto has to do with any of the anecdote you made.
What an odd thread. I don’t remember any meal I’ve had. They were all bland and insignificant.