# What foods & drinks take you back to the best part of your childhood? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 13, 2009, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-drinks-take-you-back-to-the-best-part-of-your-childhood/517500 "2009-11-13T22:55:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-drinks-take-you-back-to-the-best-part-of-your-childhood/517500/41 "2009-11-16T04:17:08Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > No, not at all. Maybe this was an Arkansas thing? This was in Franklin County, about 35 miles east of Fort Smith. Grandmother met Grandfather at a rice farm in Stuttgart Arkansas. He took her away from all that, in various places in Arkansas and Missouri during the depression. She slept on the back porch in Little Rock with three children and a butcher knife under her pillow while he built things for the WPA. 🙂 So, chocolate pie could be anywhere from Illinois to Southern Arkansas. When I was a pup, Dad would pick me up from school at lunch. Some Mexican restaurant called “Johnny’s” 😕 had chocolate pie. I always got a hamburger and chocolate pie at Johnny’s Mexican Restaurant. By G-d, I’m back to Skald’s OP. How disgusting. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-drinks-take-you-back-to-the-best-part-of-your-childhood/517500/42 "2009-11-16T07:44:28Z")
> [@Dragwyr](#): > > Coney Dogs. > > Specifically Coney Dogs from Coney Island Hot Dogs in Kalamazoo, MI. > > . Wow! Thanks for the memory blast dude! I used to love Coney Island in Tulsa OK. I wonder if they are still around? When my boys are over in the summer I like to make up a batch of home made ice cream. My _grandparents_ did it for me so now I do it for my kids. Also, S.O.S. ---
**Author:** ![BigBertha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@BigBertha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigBertha)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-drinks-take-you-back-to-the-best-part-of-your-childhood/517500/43 "2009-11-16T07:58:14Z")
Cabbage and dumplings. Liver dumpling soup Pachuga-pea soup with saurkraut and bacon coca cola syrup orange crush floats ---
**Author:** ![Loisseau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2bfe46/32.png) [@Loisseau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loisseau)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-drinks-take-you-back-to-the-best-part-of-your-childhood/517500/44 "2009-11-16T19:05:26Z")
Cast iron skillet sautee’d kosher all beef hotdogs in butter, served with B&M canned baked beans, B&M canned brown bread, Gulden’s brown mustard, Heinz catsup, picallili relish, room temp salted butter for Wonder bread(fold a buttered piece over and add the dog, with mustard and relish.) Dark chocolate frosted devil’s food cake for dessert with second glass of cold whole milk. ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-drinks-take-you-back-to-the-best-part-of-your-childhood/517500/45 "2009-11-16T20:19:47Z")
Meat loaf, scalloped potatoes, baked beans. My mom wasn’t a great cook but this was my favorite meal. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-drinks-take-you-back-to-the-best-part-of-your-childhood/517500/46 "2009-11-16T20:34:09Z")
I absolutely loved Bob’s Big Boy’s spaghetti & chili–it was my favorite meal growing up, with a side of onion rings and a root beer. Needless to say, I was devastated when I learned that the franchise revamped itself and didn’t even [list](http://www.bigboy.com/index.asp) this precious morsel of sheer bliss and contentment on the menu anymore. But when I was in Burbank a few weeks ago, I happened to see an old Bob’s restaurant–no revamping, no upgrades, with the same decor and interior design of the 60s. It’s like it was caught up in a time warp. Dare I pray? Dare I hope? Yes! There on the menu was my beloved spaghetti and chili. I sat down right then and there and had a full serving with onion rings and root beer. Pure heaven, and quite possibly the best hour I spent in all of 2009. Wow. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Eugene\_of\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@Eugene\_of\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eugene_of_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-drinks-take-you-back-to-the-best-part-of-your-childhood/517500/47 "2009-11-17T23:12:16Z")
My mom’s chocolate layer cake. Sweet yellow cake with chocolate frosting made with Hershey’s cocoa powder and butter and sugar. Good stuff. We still get it on occasion and Mom’s 82. Bless her heart. ---
**Author:** ![vezerne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/4491bb/32.png) [@vezerne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vezerne)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-drinks-take-you-back-to-the-best-part-of-your-childhood/517500/48 "2009-11-18T02:09:24Z")
My Lithuanian grandmother’s homemade sausage, kugelis, and bacon bread. Also, Coney dogs and root beer at Dog 'n Suds, on the last day of school! ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-drinks-take-you-back-to-the-best-part-of-your-childhood/517500/49 "2009-11-18T05:17:17Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Then I’m going to go make some tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich (white bread, American cheese) Exactly the combo I first thought of seeing this thread. Although I have to admit I haven’t had tomato soup in years. A few weeks ago though out of the blue my daughter offered to make lunch on a weekend. I sat down at the table and was served Campbell’s Bean with Bacon soup and a grilled cheese sandwich just like above. It was a really odd feeling being the grown up who was served by the child the exact same meal my Mother would serve me when I was a child. It was just as delicious as it was 40 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-drinks-take-you-back-to-the-best-part-of-your-childhood/517500/50 "2009-11-18T05:19:07Z")
Fried ripe plantains, with refried beans and sour cream. Not something I can eat often anymore, but it still reminds me of when I was a kid in El Salvador. Another Salvadoran food that takes me back to my childhood is “pan con pavo” - literally, a turkey sandwich on a French roll with fresh tomato sauce, curly lettuce, watercress, and sliced radish and cucumber. It’s usually made at Christmas time, as are tamales, another food I like. When we came to the States, my mom could not get the secretarial jobs she was trained for due to her limited English, so she worked in a factory for a few years. Grandma took over the cooking, which led to what I look back on without much fondness as the Fried Food Years. Mom devised a few dishes that weren’t fried or required defrosting, fortunately. One of them was potato soup, usually made with real potatoes, but occasionally involving instant potato flakes. Either way, it was great with buttered toast on a cold day. I should probably make a pot of it soon. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-drinks-take-you-back-to-the-best-part-of-your-childhood/517500/51 "2009-11-18T05:55:34Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > This may sound odd, but Filipino food takes me back…Then new people moved into the house across the street: a retired Air Force guy and his Filipino wife, Norma. > > Norma was a dear (and my first real crush), and she took my Mom under her wing in the kitchen and taught her how to _really_ cook. Pancit, mechado, lumpia, and adobo were a few of my introductions to real food, cooked well. > > When they’d do lechon, the whole neighborhood went nuts (in a very good way!)from the smell. My ingredient regret when the Digital TV took over was that I would no longer watch a middle-aged, drunken Filipina in a sausage-casing dress cook. Turns out that the station was protected because it was a low-wattage broadcaster. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-drinks-take-you-back-to-the-best-part-of-your-childhood/517500.md?page=2)