By Allycia Susanti, Museum of Childhood Ireland
Although different countries around the world enjoy different flavours, the concept of comfort meals transcends cultures, and so does the concept of unfavoured ones. Although children are known to prefer simple comforting foods, there are many different definitions of ‘simple’ and ‘comforting’ depending on each child or person’s culture and upbringing. In this article, we’ll read about what meals 11 people from different countries around the world associate with their childhoods to better understand a little bit about the diverse cultural backgrounds and histories that helped shape their preferences today.
Daniela Merediz Lara – Mexico, America
Pictures 1 & 2. Molletes (left) and sweet corn (right)
I had many favourites as a kid. I think my favourite food was cucumber topped with lime and tajin (chili dust). I loved cucumbers because they’re fresh and tasted delicious. I also loved (and still love) sour things, so that was great. Another favourite of mine was Molletes, which is a piece of white bread called Bolillo cut in half; on top of it, you spread some refried beans and melty cheese. Then, you put them in the oven for a bit so that they are crunchy and warm, and of course, topped again with some salsa. I also love beans, and refried beans are great too. I think this dish is a perfect representation of Mexican culture. As far as I know, that bread originated here in Mexico, and we Mexicans love beans and cheese on everything.
As for foods I didn’t like, I really disliked sweet corn. The taste has always been off-putting to me. I wasn’t very picky so there wasn’t a lot I didn’t like, but I’ve always hated sweet corn.
Paul Brennan – Ireland, Europe
Pictures 3 & 4. Pancakes (left) and Irish mince stew (right)
My most favourite food from my childhood is pancakes. I always had a sweet tooth when I was younger, with chocolate cereals and such. My mammy would make pancakes for me as a treat quite often, maybe 2 times a month? I was the only person who was that crazy about them in the family, so it felt extra special to me as the pancakes were especially made for me rather than for the whole family. Sometimes, even now at the age of 24, I cook them with my mam for old times’ sake.
My least favourite food as a kid, and even today, was mince stew. It was just the combination of everything, the mince itself just did not look pleasant, and that could make or break a meal for me when I was young. The flavour also did nothing for me, and I found the texture of the mashed potatoes on the side to be dry, almost sandy.
Once I learned the ways of adding (a lot of) butter to it, I changed my mind. Funnily enough, I was the only one who didn’t enjoy the stew in the whole family, so there’s a little inside joke of asking what’s for dinner and my mam would shout “mince stew just for you!”
What is funny is that I also dislike bacon and cabbage, another Irish dish; so, I suppose I’m a little bit of a disgrace to Ireland like that.
Ana Ferrand – Spain, Europe
Pictures 5 & 6. Huevos Fritos con Patatas (left) and Lentejas con Chorizo (right)
I was never a picky eater, so I loved almost everything. However, my favourite childhood meal would probably be fried eggs and fried potatoes or huevos fritos con patatas. It was something my sister and I would beg our dad to make for dinner, and we would basically count the fries so that every family member would have exactly the same number of fries; even when we were six years old, and my dad was a grown man who was 1.90cm tall. I think that made it fun. We would also have bread with the meal. Healthy stuff. I’m not sure if this dish was a cultural dish, but it was something brought over from my dad’s side of the family, and my grandma and aunts would make them too.
As for my least favourite meal, it was lentils, especially pureed lentils. I hated it because of the texture. In Spain, we eat brown lentil stew with chorizo (lentejas con chorizo), black sausage, and lard. It’s very typical to eat this once a week, even during scorching summers. There’s even a running joke in Spain about eating lentils on Mondays that was so popular that someone made a fanzine about it, although I can’t find it anymore.
Aulian Fajarrahman – Indonesia, Asia
Pictures 7 & 8. Rice with soy sauce and fried shallots (left) and stir-fried papaya blossom (right)
My favourite childhood meal was white rice with sweet soy sauce (kecap manis), sprinkled with fried shallots. The best part was that I could just make it on my own. My parents were (and are) healthcare workers that used to work almost all day long, so more often than not, they weren’t home every time I got back from school. So, if I was super hungry and had no one to feed me, I could just scoop some rice, topped it with kecap manis and fried shallots. It felt like independence and a warm hug at the same time.
In Indonesia, there’s this saying “belum makan kalau belum makan nasi” (You haven’t really eaten if you didn’t have rice), so just by having my favourite childhood meal, you’ve basically had a full meal. It’s also affordable and that’s probably why it’s also quite popular among many families or children. As a kid, I really didn’t care much about nutritional value as long as I can have something as warm, sweet, and Umami as a warm bowl of rice with sweet soy sauce and fried shallots.
My least favourite childhood meal would have to be stir-fried papaya blossom. I hated almost every single vegetable like any other kid, but nothing compared to how much I disliked stir fried papaya flowers. It’s bitter, especially if you don’t cook it right, and it had a weird the texture because of its branching florets; it made me feel like I’m chewing on bugs’ legs. I think, as an adult, I finally got around to loving this dish, though I haven’t had it in a while. I suppose some Indonesians are fond of this dish because it’s affordable and it’s believed to have numerous medicinal benefits, like antidiabetic benefits. Same goes with other bitter vegetables such as bitter melons.
Habiba Sallam – Egypt, Africa
Pictures 9 & 10. Mahshy (left) and grilled fish (right)
In Egypt, we have a dish called Mahshy, which can be any vegetable (such as grape leaves, peppers, zucchinis, aubergines, and tomatoes) that is stuffed with rice and herbs. This was my favourite dish. When I was about 7 months old, I was staying with my grandmother for a bit when I saw her eating Mahshy. I really wanted a piece, so she let me try it even though I wasn’t supposed to have solid foods just yet. Anyway, I kept on asking for more and more until I almost finished her plate. So other than it being delicious, this dish has a special significance to me because it reminds me of my grandmother and how she used to make it for me.
My least favourite childhood food, on the other hand, was fish or sea food of any kind, especially with the way fish is usually cooked here in Egypt where it gets stuffed with vegetables and grilled until it’s completely charred. I just really hated how it tasted, and I always feared that a fish bone would get stuck in my throat; it was generally a very anxiety inducing experience.
A common cautionary tale told in my culture is that whatever food we leave on our plate would come back to us on judgement day, and it would ask us “why didn’t you eat me?” So even though I didn’t want to eat the fish, I ate it anyway because I feared that little talking bits of food would come back to haunt me one day.
Jacob William Kragh Phillips – Denmark, Europe
Pictures 11 & 12. Pasta med kødsovs (left) and mashed potatoes (right)
Growing up, I’ve always liked Danish-style pasta with meat sauce (pasta med kødsovs). The sauce would have carrots and other chopped vegetables in it, and mince. Now that I’m older, I also enjoy it with meatballs as well. It’s not exactly like Italian pasta as it has its own frills to it. My mum said that I’ve always liked pasta, carrots, and minced meats, so this dish was perfect for me.
Other than that, my mum would also attest that I absolutely couldn’t stand mashed potatoes as a kid. Even now, I think I still really dislike mashed potatoes. I just think that mashing potatoes into such a mushy consistency like that is a bit sad, especially when I think that it can be turned into other much better potato dishes such as French fries.
Hong Kim Nguyen – Vietnam, Asia
Pictures 13 & 14. Xôi Mặn (left) and Canh Cà Chua Trứng (right)
Vietnamese sticky rice with toppings (xôi mặn) was my favourite. I loved xôi mặn because of the savoury flavours. The fattiness of the scallion oil coupled with the chewiness of the sticky rice really worked for me. Plus, my mum used to have me eat it for breakfast every day, so it became a familiar taste. There are also sweet variations of Vietnamese sticky rice, but I’ve always preferred the savoury kind.
On the other hand, I hated anything with tomatoes in it, such as Canh Cà Chua Trứng or Vietnamese tomato egg soup. When it comes to this soup, the egg, to me, was the most palatable part. I hated tomatoes because of the texture; I’m sensitive to how mushy they get when cooked, and they feel weird against my teeth – which is a bit ironic, since there’s a lot of Vietnamese dishes with tomatoes in it.
Suphon Niamkamnoet – Thailand, Asia
Pictures 15 & 16. Tod Man Khao Pod (left) and Khao Tom Mad (right)
My absolute favourite childhood food is sweet corn fritters, known in Thai as Tod Man Khao Pod. I think it was one of the first dishes my parents taught me. It’s easy to make and has a child-friendly taste, in my opinion. To prepare it, we start by pounding fresh, raw corn. Then, we mix the corn with flour, a pinch of salt, curry paste, and kaffir lime leaves. Finally, we deep fry the mixture into small, pancake-like fritters. We usually eat it with rice, but it can also be served as an appetizer.
As for the food I disliked, I don’t really hate the dish itself, but I just don’t like the coconut and black beans on it. My grandmother excels at making glutinous rice steamed in banana leaves, known as Khao Tom Mad, a traditional Thai dessert. However, my grandmother’s recipe includes black beans and coconut. Well, I don’t like the coconut’s texture or the taste of the black beans
Tod Man Khao Pod isn’t very popular nor commonly found in typical restaurants, though you might find it at some street food stands. However, Khao Tom Mad is quite well-known and is even served as a dessert in the Bangkok Airways lounge.
Arthur Antônio Cezário – Brazil, America
Pictures 17 & 18. Brigadeiros (left) and Feijoada (right)
In Brazil, Brigadeiros are the heart of any birthday party, they are small sweet and basically everyone loves them! It’s a mixture of condensed milk and cocoa and margarine that is put on a pan and mixed until it gets a gummy consistency. It’s then rolled into little balls and sprinkled with some granulated chocolate; and voila! You just made yourself some Brigadeiros. By being such a simple, small candy that’s present in birthday parties, you’d usually see hundreds of them, and I have to say, as a kid, that’s basically heaven. Although, it’s not all smooth sailing from here, because depending on the type of cocoa or condensed milk used to make them, they can end up being sickly sweet, and you’d have had enough after the third one. Other times, you can eat a dozen of them no problem.
Something I had a problem with eating as a kid was Feijoada. It’s basically a bean stew with meat, and it has this rich dark colour to it. I like having them nowadays, but as a kid, I really hated beans, so this dish was a no for me.
Yutong Liu – China, Asia
Picture 19. Chǎo Tǔdòu Sī (炒土豆丝)
For me, the things I liked and disliked eating most as a child were contained in the same dish, which is stir-fried shredded potatoes (炒土豆丝/ Chǎo Tǔdòu Sī). I love that the stir-fried shredded potatoes are crunchy and waxy, and very good with rice. But for better flavour, restaurants often add shredded ginger. Ginger, even when shredded and stir-fried, was very spicy to me as a child. On top of that, the colour and thickness of the shredded potatoes and shredded ginger were very similar, and it made it hard for me because I wanted to eat the shredded potatoes but not the shredded ginger, even though I liked the taste of ginger separately or as a condiment.
Martin Verhnjak – Slovenia, Europe
Pictures 20 & 21. Kisla Juha (left) and tripe soup (right)
My favourite was Kisla Juha or Slovenian sour soup with knoedels (wheat flour dumplings). I loved the sour soup because my grandma knew how to prepare it in a way that is unique, yet absolutely delicious. Nobody but my grandma made it that way, and it became almost iconic for me to eat that soup when staying over with my grandma while my parents were at work. I loved staying over at my grandparents’, and that’s why some of the best childhood memories I have are from those times. To this day, whenever my grandma prepares that very soup, it evokes many nostalgic memories.
As for my least favourite, it was any dishes with organs like liver, kidneys, or tripe, or any dishes with tomatoes or mushrooms, such as tripe soup. Until this day, I still don’t like animal organs, largely because of the smell and the texture they tend to have. I never liked tomatoes, despite my parents and grandparents insisting on me eating them, since they cultivated tomatoes themselves and displayed a degree of passion towards it. Mushrooms are still a no for me today, mostly because of the smell and digestive issues that follow whenever I have them.
Conclusion
Food is an edible piece of history and culture. By reading about these 11 different stories of what childhood meals look like internationally, perhaps we can all learn that every person’s experience with food is shaped by so many facets of their childhood whether it be cultural or personal. Different factors such as cultural background, historical background, even personal upbringing or parental background are the reason why each child has a unique dietary preference which may even carry onto their dietary preferences as an adult. Who knows, maybe some of these dishes could even inspire us and make their way onto our dinner tables. This way, we get to experience a little bit of what it’s like to grow up as part of different cultures.
Photo sources:
- https://www.goya.com/en/recipes/mexican-molletes
- https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/basic-method-for-cooking-corn-on-the-cob-40047
- https://easyfood.ie/recipe/ultimate-thin-pancake-mix/
- https://www.kimieatsglutenfree.com/2015/07/22/irish-minced-beef-stew/
- https://olivardellentisquillo.com/unos-simples-huevos-fritos/
- https://www.gourmet.cl/recetas/lentejas/
- https://www.masekorner.com/2020/04/antara-nasi-kecap-dan-bawang-goreng.html
- https://www.kompas.com/food/read/2023/09/11/141000375/resep-tumis-bunga-pepaya-pakai-teri-rebus-biar-tidak-pahit
- https://www.pinterest.com/pin/309974386857333496/
- https://www.casalafemmeny.com/blog/alexandrian-culinary-history-of-simplicity
- https://www.arla.dk/opskrifter/pasta-med-kodsauce/
- https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/24771/basic-mashed-potatoes/
- https://dienmaycholon.com/kinh-nghiem-mua-sam/huong-dan-cach-nau-xoi-man-bang-noi-com-dien-don-gian-va-thom-ngon-tai-nha
- https://daotaobeptruong.vn/cac-mon-canh-ngon
- https://hungryinthailand.com/thai-corn-fritters/
- https://www.vecteezy.com/photo/21705540-closeup-khao-tom-mad-or-dessert-sticky-rice-traditional-thai-desserts
- https://ashbaber.com/brigadeiro/
- https://cookidoo.international/recipes/recipe/id/r787342
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=L8v1xKrIB0o
- https://www.womensweeklyfood.com.au/recipe/slow-cooker-recipes/tomato-tripe-stew-with-pancetta-10943/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=nYmHAUZ8aco