Is It True That Food Can Help You Time Travel?

Among all these foods in the world, why do we always love the food we eat as kids? Is it just me or everybody else? To come to a conclusion, while I was having a general conversation with others, I may have asked them about their favorite food as a kid. If you’re one of them, you can relate to this now. Yes, almost everybody sided with me. Perhaps, they made me walk their childhood down memory lane with these amazing food stories and I felt I was with them throughout their life. I know that’s quite fascinating, how food can travel you through time and all around the world without even using a passport.

Childhood food always comes with this solid package of the family mostly centered on a woman. For most of us, it’s our mother, grandmother, or relative. I know this is not universal for everybody. In my case, it’s my mother with whom I shared most of my food memories. We had ups and downs through our food journey as well as our real life. If somebody asks me to pick one of the food memoirs from the pack, here’s what I’m going to draw.

It’s caramelized brown as same as the skin of most Sri Lankans, with a chewy crunch giving you an inseparable taste and aroma blast not just in your mouth, but throughout your entire home. It may have made you cry at the beginning of making this, but I promise, it’s one of the most amazing Sri Lankan dishes you will ever try, or may I call it a condiment as most of us are referring to? This spicy, sweet, and savory flavor blast can go well with most Sri Lankan dishes, whether rice, milk rice, string hoppers, hoppers, bread, roti, or as a filling in buns or imbul. Honestly, I may have missed something here, but the list goes on. Because of its uniqueness, we Sri Lankans pair it with most of our dishes. If this sounds familiar to you, yes you might be correct. I’m talking about Seeni Sambol, which you will find as onion relish, caramelized onion chutney, or caramelized onion relish on Google.

You might be blaming me for all the icing I have put on the cake so far. I get that. But, if you can spare a couple of extra minutes with me, I would like to take you to my childhood, to be exact to my school days. Don’t worry, I don’t need a penny from you. It’s just a compliment for being my reader so far. Oh! before that, I must warn you that my mother is planning to feed you too. So, be prepared for that, and don’t bring any lunch for school today as she’s making Seeni Sambol toast for you as well. It’s one of the favorites on her school food list.

Being in a tropical country without any microwaves to heat up food was a huge challenge back in the 90s and nowadays as well. So, the chances of food spoilage are high compared to where I live now. Seeni Sambol is quite the magic dish/condiment you can make and keep at room temperature for a couple of days without being intact by water.

Her favorite way of making this toast is with the use of a press sandwich maker where you get that triangle toast and it allows you to easily separate them into portions as well. On a busy day, that’s like a life savior. Yes, I must admit how smart she is. Oh! another interesting thing is when we were going on picnics, she used to make these sandwiches along with a tea flask (thermos) with ginger tea. Don’t drool over it!

When I moved here, finding a press sandwich maker was at the top of my kitchen equipment list. I must admit that it was the same with my brother as well. I’m so glad that my husband gets the same cravings as me most of the time. Sometimes, he makes these sandwiches when I come home after work proving not only that childhood food memory growing up with you but also connects people with each other as well.

Oh! before I forget, if you want to see how my mother made this delicious Seeni sambol, you can check out Seeni Sambol- A Flavouful And Spicy Condiment Made In Minutes recipe on my blog.

Okay, now you know one of my food memories… Who wants to go next?