Pie Is A Recipe For Happiness

by EdventureGirl /
EdventureGirl's picture
Feb 06, 2013 / 0 comments

Pie. Raspberry Pie. Cooling just next to the oven on a wire rack. The sweet, tart fragrance fills the kitchen, making my mouth water. It’s my Grammy’s pie. She always makes it for my mom’s birthday. Her log cabin up in the colds of Canada is one of my favorite places in the world, and the smell of raspberry pie can instantly bring me back there. But I’m not there now. I’m standing outside a bakery somewhere far from her log cabin, an insane grin plastered over my face at the smell of raspberry pie.

 an old photo of my grammy

I think food is directly linked to how you feel. If you are happy the first time you eat a dish, that food will be forever related to joy. It’s the same with sadness. Just as the scent of raspberry pie immediately reminds me of a log cabin and a wonderful grandmother, the taste of baked beans reminds me of countless goodbyes. It seems they always serve baked beans at farewell potlucks, don’t ask me why.

Of course, food can also affect your feelings, it’s not always the other way around. For example, one night, deep in the deserts of Mexico, Dad and I sat in the dark, eating a bag of fried pork skins with hot sauce (sounds disgusting, I know, but they’re actually quite good!). We ate dozens of them, commenting on their satisfying crunch, the different flavor compared to others we’d tried in the past. At that moment, I was perfectly happy. But to our horror, when Dad turned on the headlamp, we discovered that the entire bag was crawling with ants. We had been crunching away on them for most of the night. I’ve never been able to look at a fried pork skin without remembering that shock since. Therefore, it was the food itself that caused the memory to be, in this case, rather bad.

So, what is the recipe for absolute happiness? Raspberry pie, with vanilla ice cream. What about the recipe for shock, anguish, and an irresistible desire to claw your tongue out? A bag of fried pork skins, doused in hot sauce, and crawling with ants.

What’re your recipes for happiness and/or misery?

 

 

 

Hannah Miller is a member of the Youth Travel Blogging Mentorship Program.

 

Photo courtesy and copyright Hannah Miller