Flavours of home can soothe the homesickness we feel when we’re away

Why is it that food is one of the strongest connections to the place we grew up in?

Food is nostalgia. It can instantly take us back to a memory, a place, a person.

When we miss home, we cook one of our mom’s signature dishes or we bake cookies that remind us of our childhood and lick the spoon from the cookie mixture in remembrance of our younger self.

Food is nostalgia. It can instantly take us back to a memory, a place, a person.

Food soothes our yearning sickness for home and it is a quick fix to travel back to the place we came from.

I was home recently and you know what I brought back in my suitcase? Lots and lots of food and flavours from home.

My Southern African friends will understand the huge connection of Ouma rusks, biltong, Mrs H.S. Balls Chutney and Ina Parman’s Garlic Pepper to home.

Now, when I have my coffee in the morning and dip my ‘Oumas’ in it (Ouma rusks are like a hard biscuit that you dunk in warm drinks to soften it for eating), I feel a bit like I am at home on our porch, listening to the rosy-faced lovebirds sing, sunshine on my face and the warmth of the day starting to settle in around me.

If you are travelling and missing home, I hope that you can somehow find a taste that reminds you of the place you came from. I hope that you can close your eyes and taste home. That those 8,000 taste buds make the 8,000 miles disappear and soothe the homesickness for a while.

And when there is a way for my mom to send a care package and she asks me what I want, it is always the flavours that remind me most of home that I ask for.

You can look at a picture of home and feel sad and wish you were there, you can hear your family’s voice over the phone and yearn for a hug, but of all the senses that connect you to home, it is only food that can make you close your eyes and allow you to really be there, although you are thousands of miles away.

If you are travelling and missing home, I hope that you can somehow find a taste that reminds you of the place you came from.

I hope that you can, alone or in your group of friends, recreate a dish that transforms you back home.

I hope that you can close your eyes and taste home. That those 8,000 taste buds make the 8,000 miles disappear and soothe the homesickness for a while.

And if you are from Southern Africa, give me a shout and I will send you a little care package of food from home – as long as the stash lasts. :)