Our senses help up perceive the world around us, and are deeply linked to our memories. Have you ever smelled an apple pie baking and were transported back in time to your childhood when your grandmother would bake a pie when you visited?
Our senses are an integral part to how we interact with and perceive the world around us, so it is logical that a reoccurring environmental cue can bring back these memories. According to nature.com, “The key, the researchers claim, is that memories relating to an event are scattered across the brain’s sensory centres but marshalled by a region called the hippocampus. If one of the senses is stimulated to evoke a memory, other memories featuring other senses are also triggered.”
This chain reaction of sensory stimulation can truly bring memories back to life, particularly when it comes to food.
Eating involves many senses aside from the basic taste and texture of what you are eating. Smell plays a great role in how you taste food, but in addition, if you are eating with family or friends, sight and sound can greatly impact your memories.
Therefore, memories of meals can have a big influence on you when considering how many senses are involved in your past experience.
So what is your favorite memory of a meal? Can you taste and smell the food as you think about it? Do you remember the conversation going on? Do you remember how everyone looked?
Who knew food was so powerful?
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