There's something about food that brings people together, and good food is often the impetus for many a great memory.
I still dream of the food I had in Athens, because Greek food is life.
"What's the best meal you ever had that you will probably never get to have again?" –– This was today's burning question from Redditor foundmyleftsock, and it's a great trip down memory lane.
"Unfortunately..."
Scallops. They were incredibly delicious. Sautéed with garlic and butter, perfectly cooked, melt-in-your mouth.
Unfortunately, that's how I found out I was allergic to shellfish. So I won't ever be having them again. Unless I'm ready to die.
"I went on a fishing trip..."
I went on a fishing trip with my brother and a couple friends down to Marathon in the Florida Keys. We took our boat, stayed in a tent in this campground, and there was a restaurant there with a Cajun chef named "Frenchie."
One day we had a pretty good haul. Spanish Mackerel, Yellowtail Snapper, and quite a few fish we didn't really know what to do with. Frenchie saw our catch and offered a deal. Give him the fish we didn't want, and he'd take the rest and cook it up Cajun style with sides and everything...for free.
Okay, drinks weren't free, but oh my god. A couple hours later the four of us were treated to a feast of epic proportions. Imagine one of those "all you can eat" fish dinners but with fresh fish you caught that day, cooked expertly by a real Cajun acting as your own personal chef for the evening.
"I was a broke student..."
GiphyI was a broke student in Boston. I had like $4 to my name. I was starving so I just walked into a restaurant in Chinatown and just told the waiter that I had $4 and just wanted some lunch. He laughed at me, sat me down, and brought out the most delicious, but simple food. It was chicken, with some green vegetable I couldn't identify, but it was dark and pungent, and a huge bowl of rice. I was almost in tears it was so good.
"The best food..."
The best food is had when you're starving. I remember after 48 hours of not eating, due to surgery, the cream of chicken soup they served me was the food of gods.
"One night..."
Right before my brother passed away he was brought home from the hospital so he could live the rest of his life in comfort. One night I woke up to noises and a crash downstairs. I went to investigate and my brother was standing there in his pj's and slippers and a whole carton of eggs broken on the floor. We cleaned it up together and then made scrambled eggs. We ate it sitting on the table with beers even though he wasn't supposed to drink. That was my last meal with my best friend because two hours after I fell asleep next to him he passed away. Now, whenever I feel lonely without him I make myself scrambled eggs and beer and eat it sitting on the table.
"I worked on an archaeological dig..."
I worked on an archaeological dig in rural Italy when I was in college. One night, I was pitch-black drunk hobbling back to our camp from the small town's only "club" when it began to rain. I tripped and broke my glasses right in front of a concerned elderly Italian woman's driveway. She yelled from her door to invite me in, cleaned me up, and served me fried rabbit with tomatoes, spaghetti carbonara, and a cappuccino. Her husband had been a chef and restauranteur for years before his death, and she had helped around the kitchen. When he died, so did their business, and her cooking for me was the first time she'd prepared a meal for another person in two years. Judging from her anecdote about feeding American GIs during World War II, she had to be at least 90, and this was in 2018. That meal simply will never materialize again, in any way.
"Our family..."
Our family used to own a Chinese restaurant. My uncle woke up at 4am to make the noodles and to make Chinese roast pork. After he died, my relatives went with just getting noodles delivered from a factory. Our pork also didn't taste the same. I miss the food at that restaurant.
"Stumbled randomly..."
Stumbled randomly into a speakeasy downtown one evening and the bartender made me a drink with scotch in it that tasted like campfires and rain and wind and fresh moss and stormy skies. It changed me.
"About twenty years ago..."
About twenty years ago I had lapin au cidre (rabbit braised in cider) at a hole-in-the-wall neighborhood restaurant in Paris with a girlfriend and a great group of friends. It was a tasty meal, but mostly I'll never be twenty-two, carefree, and in the throes off new romance again.
"There's an area..."
There's an area in Rhode Island that has a bunch of old Italian restaurants that have been there forever: Something Hill I think? I was there for work once and ate at one of them for dinner. It was legit the best meal I've ever had. Just the appetizer soup was probably better than any other restaurant food I've had. You could tell it was awesome family recipes that they've been making for generations. I'll probably never be in that state again.
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