People Describe The Absolute Best Meal They Ever Ate

I've traveled quite a bit—for work and pleasure—and had some memorable meals along the way.

There was the borscht, pierogies, and sausage at Polish restaurant Mazurka (R.I.P.) on Rue Prince-Arthur in Montreal, Canada. The poutine I sampled across Quebec and the Maritimes. All the fresh breads, doner kebabs, schnitzel, and baked French onion soups I ate while TDY in Germany. The yakisoba, sushi, and seafood curry I had while working for the DoD in Japan.

But my favorite meals revolve around my family.

My Akenistén:’a's (Mother's) meatloaf; my paternal Tuŋkaŋŝila (Grandpa) Art's shredded pork tacos, beer boiled shrimp with homemade cocktail sauce, and aged grilled steaks; my adopted Grandpa Bill and Grandma Mavis' fresh seafood platters of boiled, shelled lobster meat with melted butter and pan seared scallops; and anything and everything from my maternal Metís Mémère Amelia who taught me to cook.

Many people tie their favorite meals to what was happening in their life in that moment as much if not more than the food's quality.

Reddit user c00kie1702 asked:

"What’s the best meal you’ve ever eaten?"

German Potato

"By far the best potato I ever had was in Germany. The potato was literally just boiled and had fresh cream on top.

The cream had been made that day, at a beer garden outside of Darmstadt, served alongside a pretzel. Just incredibly simple and so amazing."

"Germans know how to cook them spuds."

~ Onlycans69

Mom's Intoxication Cure

"I got drunk once and had a panic attack because I got too drunk."

"So while I was freaking out, my mom made meatloaf, homemade mashed sweet potatoes, and cornbread for me to sober up with."

"I swear to God, nothing has come close to how good that meal was."

~ SalaciousHateWizard

New Home, First Meal

"Mine has to be the fried chicken, waffles and maple chipotle that my fiancé and I ate in our underwear on the floor of our unfurnished apartment the first night after moving halfway around the world."

~ c00kie1702

Postpartum Chicken

"Popeye's chicken after giving birth and not eating for 2 days."

"You could have told me it was a Michelin star meal, and I would have believed you."

~ Technical_Buy_8198

"Up on the 5th floor of the U.S. Naval Hospital was the maternity ward, and across the street was a KFC. Gave birth at 6pm, but the hospital kitchen closed at 7."

"So I put my clothes on and walked down all the stairs. The elevator was across from the nurses' station."

"Walked across the street and got myself the jumbo original dinner meal with extra mashed potatoes. Walked back and feasted. The nurses saw the box and bones and wondered…"

"This was in 1976, before delivery for most restaurants was available."

~ unownpisstaker

Louisiana Cuisine

"Shrimp Florentine omelette from Sammy's Grill on Highland in Baton Rouge, late 1990's."

~ oldguydrinkingbeer

"Hickory Roasted Duck from Emeril Legasse’s New Orleans restaurant. It's not open anymore."

"It's like a whole thing where they cure the duck and slow roast it in a wood-fired oven. I doubt I could redo it right. It's served over this Emeril-created sort of cornbread pudding type thing."

~ NeoMaxiZoomDweebean

Selena Quintanilla's Favorite

"Hi Ho Mexican restaurant in Corpus Christi, Texas. We were down for business and were directed to this hole in the wall restaurant."

"They had pics of Selena (the original, not Gomez) and her family on the walls. A local said it was hef favorite spot."

"I’m from Cali, I’m hella picky about my Mexican food."

"OMG—everything was superb, and cheap. Lard was not spared in the making of the meal. I inhaled food that night."

~ SalesTaxBlackCat

Thick Thai Curry

"This Thai restaurant I found that I should have made note of the name. But I drove across the country and stopped at Thai restaurants the whole way."

"This one in particular had yellow potato curry that was so good it was crazy. Not soupy like most authentic places, the curry was thick."

~ WingerRules

"Thai curries aren't supposed to be thick, but I really appreciate when they are. It's so much more flavorful."

"I used to drive 50 minutes each way about once a month because I found a good Thai place. Unfortunately, it didn't survive COVID."

~ Nevermind04

Hiking Hut Chicken

"One time my brother and I were chilling at home (in our mid-20s, visiting parents over Christmas) watching Jamie Oliver cook an amazing chicken, and we spontaneously decided to go for a tramp (a hike for you non-kiwis out there) and cook said chicken at the hut (camp or cabin for people not from New Zealand)."

"The problem was, once we sorted our gear and food and finally started walking, we only had an hour or two of sunlight... with about 5 hours of walking ahead of us."

"Of course we also didn't bring head-torches and so were clambering in the dark using our phone torches until they died. At this stage, we just decided to sleep literally on the ground*, only to discover in the morning we were only approximately 70 meters [76 yards or 230 feet] from the hut."

* Unlike their neighbor Australia, New Zealand isn't known for deadly land creatures. You won't find saltwater crocodiles, poisonous land snakes, or the wide spectrum of fatal spiders that live wherever they want to in Australia, living in neighboring New Zealand.

The two venomous spiders that are native to New Zealand—katipō and white-tailed—are endangered, rarely seen and their bites are painful, but not fatal. The third—the redback spider—requires medical treatment for its bite, but is an invasive species from Australia—because, of course it is.

The deadliest creatures of New Zealand are all in the ocean waters surrounding it: Portuguese man o' war, two species of sea snakes, jellyfish, sea slugs, and sharks.

"Anyways, we get there in the morning, decide to get outrageously stoned and then spend literally the whole day cooking this chicken to perfection."

"I'll remember that meal for the rest of my life."

~ sewerat

Nan's Last Christmas Dinner

"The last Christmas dinner my English grandmother made. She put on an epic Christmas dinner that had everything: prawns, chicken, turkey, ham, roast vegetables, stuffing muffins, at least 5 different kinds of salad, Christmas cake, several different flavors of jelly, Christmas pudding soaked in brandy that she set alight which had a lucky silver charm in it for a lucky guest, and every kind of drink you can imagine."

"It was the classic Christmas dinner with all the trimmings. And after dinner we went into the lounge room to watch the Christmas special and the Queen's Christmas broadcast."

"It will literally be impossible to beat."

~ Nekokamiguru

Nonno's Pheasant

"Friend's grandpa cooked wild pheasant with this red sauce and olives one night. He was Italian, I don't know how many generations removed from the old country or anything, but the food was positively illuminating."

"I felt like I was floating. I grew up anglo as f*ck, lots of poor White farmers in my family, so a lot of meat and potatoes, pork chops, and hamburgers growing up."

"This was the first time I'd ever had food like this. I was never happier to be picking birdshot out of my food."

~ The-Fat-Matt

Bad Time, Great Food

"I grew up pretty poor, mostly living off of ramen and things like that. Parents never really cooked, and when they did, it was Hamburger Helper."

"When I was 15, I was convicted of a few crimes that poor kids tend to get into. After I was sentenced, I was sent on my way to a juvenile correctional facility."

"I was so f*cking scared, not knowing what to expect, crying all night. Well, I woke up the first day and headed to the lunch room. Looked around and awkwardly found a place to sit."

"Then I was handed a tray with this white slop on it with some potatoes on the side. It was biscuits and gravy and holy sh*t!"

"I had never had anything so good in my life!"

"Go figure, one of the scariest moments in my life up until then, would be broken up by the single most transcendent culinary experience I've had."

"You can sometimes find beauty in the oddest places."

~ jarlito420

Improvisational Skills

"I modified a halal snack pack to the following and it was delicious:"

"Layer of chips (french fries for Americans), grated cheese, lamb (or goat or beef if you prefer) doner meat, garlic sauce, hummus, sweet chilli sauce, topped with tabbouleh."

"It was perfect in every way."

~ IntroductionSnacks

Memories Over Meals

"The 1st thing that popped into my head was food I can't even remember. For my best friend's bachelor party a few years ago a few of us went to a fancy Michelin star restaurant."

"Now, we're the kind of guys who would each order a little Caesars Hot and Ready pizza and have finished them before we made it home. We were *so outclassed—we laughed as they brought us strange, tiny confections and presented wine options to us as though we knew what we were doing."

"They weren't fooled. We were all dressed up and laughed the whole meal through. It was so much fun."

"When I thought more, the 2nd thing that came to mind was me asking my aging dad to make fried rice when I came for a visit. He always made it perfectly for me as a kid and I've never matched the taste."

"The exact dish wasn't his best, but it was delicious. We talked about recipes and life and the trashy sci-fi books we both read. It was a great meal."

"I think the best meals really are the ones you share with others, whether they're friends, family, or strangers you just met, what makes a meal a candidate for 'best' for me has absolutely nothing to do with the food, and all to do with the company."

~ kurosakura2

Mom's Kitchen

"Man, I have lived a LOT of places and traveled even more."

"Nothing beats my mom's home cooking. My goodness that woman can cook."

"I diet all year for Thanksgiving and Christmas."

~ snipe_score_celly

Food Of The Gods

"This older hippie woman moved in next door to me. One day she asked if she could pay me to put some furniture together. I was sick, so I turned it down."

"About an hour later she came back with a pot under her arm and said she was going to make me vegetable soup. I said, 'no, I don't want you to get sick'. She said she was immune, chuckled, and insisted."

"OK, I'm down for some soup. She walked in, dumped a bunch of vegetables from the pot on the counter, and asked for a knife."

"I was kind of high from cough syrup, just sitting on my couch watching her roughly chop veggies and throw them into the pot, with a dash of this, or a dash of that. I make a mean vegetable soup, but this stuff smelled like it was on a whole different level when it started boiling."

"It was intoxicating."

"A while later, she dumped half a bag of egg noodles in it, let those soften, then ladled us up a bowl each. While we were eating, she told me about the time she backpacked across Morocco to get to Tangier, to look for her wayward son. He was apparently working at a car dealership because he was dating the owner's daughter."

"After we were done with our soup, she kissed my forehead and went home. When I returned the pot, she thanked me, then told me she was moving again, to Spain. She left a couple weeks later."

"Part of me thinks I met God, just taking a stroll down to earth to see what was going on, the soup was that good. I still think about it."

~ Conch-Republic

What's the best meal you've ever eaten?