Your Most Memorable Food Experience....

[ILoveFood1]

What were you eating? How did it taste? How did you feel while you were eating it? How did it smell? Did it make any sounds?

I'll talk about mine after you guys share yours.

[Suzanne]

Last spring I was in Dallas for a conference. I went on a group tour of local food businesses: a cheesemaker, a greenhouse that grows hydroponic lettuces and herbs, a company that smokes fish and processes local caviar, an ice-pop company, a tortilla factory. In all cases, the love for and pride in what they were doing was stupendous (and justified). But there was one standout: Now, I've had freshly made tortillas before. But I've never tasted tortillas that carried such a clear connection to corn, to the earth it grew in, to the people who made the tortillas, and to their ancestors who had been making them for hundreds if not thousands of years, as that time.

[panini]

You just pierced my heart. You were in Dallas?
I assume you went to see Paula. She is actually a part of my meal.
BTW You missed the best place.

[Suzanne]

Mea culpa. My only excuse was that every second was taken up with conference stuff.

Yes, the cheesemaker was Paula Lambert, of The Mozzarella Company. There too, the love and pride make the cheese very special. But the freshly made tortillas (and tamales ) at Luna's Tortilla Factory brought together so many people and so much history -- it was very exciting. And delicious!! Of course, I can never be satisfied again with the packaged stuff I get. But I feel that I tasted tradition, and it was sweet.

[Mezzaluna]

It would be nearly impossible for me to choose a single, most memorable experience. But I'd come close to say that just about anything traditional from my childhood, cooked years later, would do it for me. I'll give you an example: my mom used to make a Jewish-style braised chicken dish called "gedempte chicken". It's cooked very slowly with lots of onions and little other seasoning. Mom would stuff chicken neck skin with a mixture of flour, salt and pepper, grated onion and schmaltz, then sew the neck skin closed and braise these little "helzel" in the pot. I made this dish for the first time last week, and the rush of memory was extreme. I had a similar experience making another traditional dish for my cousin, who's recovering from cancer treatment- it was kasha varnishkes. Toasting that kasha evoked very strong memories of my grandmother.

[blueschef]

To date it would have to be a dinner I made at my friends house in Melbourne Australia, not because I made it but because we had so much fun Shoping, cooking, drinking and hanging out with Aussies.
New Orleans Style Yabbies - I know that there cannot be to many Cajuns who have seen these things. They are HUGE Crawfish that are SOOOOO sweet and fat. If a true Cajun saw all of the stuff they can get in Australia they would never leave!
Grilled Lamb Lollypops with Aussie Honey and Mustard Sheliack(got 6 frenched racks for 10.00 american!
Oysters Kilpatrick
Seafood Gumbo with all AUSTRALIAN seafood and veggies - Outragious!
Fresh raw Sea Urchin (uni) with Squeesed Lemon and Tabasco - Just like an Oyster. Got like 30 Whole Urchins for 6.00 american, took a while to clean them but wow! How Cool!
Fried Fresh water Prawns
Fried Barumandi
Morten bay bugs on the grill
Tons of Aussie wine and beer - that party ended up lasting till sun up, an amazing day!

[Mezzaluna]

Okay, our next big trip (after Israel next year) will be to OZ. Now shove me those oysters!

[Ardent]

My favorite food memories too are from childhood and it's remarkably simple; my mom's cornbread. Hot and fresh in the morning, with butter...

Other than that, I had an amazing Brazilian steak house dinner in Manaus, center of the Amazon, in 2004. Ended up going twice, it cost near $30 per person which is extreme in Manaus as you can eat for $1-$3, but was worth every penny and was hugely welcomed relief from backpack/campstove meals.

[Mezzaluna]

Ardent, was it one of those churrascarias? They come around with spits of roasted meats and have a system for telling them when you want more. We went to one in NYC a few years ago, Churrascaria Plataforma on W. 49th st. I don't even know if they're there any more, but it was good. I believe there's one in Chicago, too.