Our olfactory bulbs have gathered endless sense patterns of foods high in sugar, fat and salt. These flavour memories have become part of the fabric of our sense of self and are not easily discarded, because the system, as we have seen, is designed ‘not to forget’.

One of the functions of traditional cuisines is to reinforce these shared childhood food memories.

Given that we all bring such different food memories to the table, how is it ever possible to cook a meal that will please everyone?

Unlike traditional food, which is remembered jointly within families or communities, mass-produced food and drink is remembered across continents.

Memory is the single most powerful driving force in how we learn to eat; it shapes all our yearnings.

When we talk of memory of food, we generally assume that nostalgia is a phenomenon that occurs late in life - like Proust being transported to his youth by a madeleine dipped in lime-blossom tea. But food memory is there from the start. Even babies have nostalgia!

Anything can start to taste good if you have enough positive memories of being fed it by a parent.