my madeleine

Slowly making my way through Marcel Proust’s Swann’s Way, Volume One of In Search of Lost Time (also titled Remembrance of Things Past). In the prologue or what Proust calls the Overture, there’s a wonderful passage about how a sponge cake, called a madeleine, retrieves a rich memory for the narrator. That taste of something long ago, in this case the flavour of a tea-dipped piece of a cake from the northeastern region (Lorraine) of France. The memory doesn’t come all at once though. The narrator savors the morsels again and again. Over time, the narrator remembers his summertime town; a ficticious place called Combray…

Muriel Barbery used the madeleine as a “central food” in her novel Gourmet Rhapsody…I won’t go into details…have a read if you fancy how food is something more than nutrition…

I suppose we all have those madeleines, those treats, aromas, foods with flavours that transport us somewhere…a special wine perhaps? Your granma’s cole slaw recipe or a blueberry pie. I have a few…

Butterscotch krimpets made by Tastykake Baking Company in Philadelphia. Recently, when in Philly and New Jersey, I had a few…the taste is like a flavour-filled time machine…like a madeleine, nothing complex, just…perfectly simple.

…like fresh garlic bread…or salt water taffy…or…