Being an ESL student in the US exposed you to new foods and new flavors.  You even found some surprising tastes that you’ll miss, but nothing compares to your country’s home cooking.

Food, Culture, And Memory

Every culture has it’s own comfort foods.  The kinds of foods you have the warmest, fuzziest feelings about.  The foods you no doubt missed the most during your study abroad.  You might even have tried to recreate a recipe from home in your dorm room in a moment of desperation.

Whether or not you’d miss the foods from home probably wasn’t at the top of your list of worries when you boarded a plane to come study English in America.  But, before you even landed, I bet you started to crave a dish you wouldn’t taste again for months!  If you were in the US during what was a holiday in your home country, maybe you cried yourself to sleep thinking about all the delicious, traditional dishes you missed out on.

Food and memory are closely connected.  Your sense of smell delivers a one, two punch that taps into the regions of the brain responsible for emotion and memory.  The aroma of your home country’s cooking can act as a time machine that transports you back to your childhood.  Whether it’s your favorite street food, or your grandmother’s secret recipe, memory and smell are intertwined.  Food is one of the great pleasures in life.  You’ve returned to the place where all your memories of food are the memories of you.

Studying English in the US was an amazing time in your life.  You’ll miss your classmates, and the places you’ve come to know.  But there’s truly no place like home, and no food like your own country’s home food.