Do you remember tastes and flavors from when you were a kid?

I do. 

In my mind, I can recall my friend's mother's freshly sliced tomatoes for lunch one day. I must have been nine years old at the time. Sweet, fresh, and full of flavor, the tomatoes were delicious. It is easy to recall 50 years later.

When I was a kid, I used to spend Sundays with my best friend at his grandparent's farm. Sunday afternoon dinner was almost always a fresh-killed whole chicken. It tasted better than any chicken I've ever eaten at home. 

When I was eight or nine, I had my first taste of lobster at a shack on Perkins Cove in Ogunquit. 

For me, these taste memories share a commonality. They were all about experiencing the unadulterated, unseasoned flavor of real food - close to the time it was harvested.

I don't recall the potato chips, candy or soda I loved when I was a kid. No, the flavor memories I have are for the real food, the good-for-you food. From real animals and real plans - without much processing. 

I did a Google search on this topic - and came across this from the New York Times: “Scientists suspect that taste and memory are inextricably bound. That taste, like smell, bypasses the part of the mind that is logical and educable and travels directly to the primitive brain, seat of instinct and memory.” 

I was thinking about this today because yesterday I got a nice note from a customer sharing that she was enjoying her Farmer Dan Meat Box.

At the end of the note, she added “My son said his burger the other night was the best one he’s ever had.”

I hope it was good enough that he’ll remember that burger fifty years from now.