When I was a kid, I couldn’t wait to go visit my grandparents in Brooklyn. It meant we were going to stay the weekend! I loved watching and helping Grandma cook up a storm in the kitchen. The best smells of my childhood came from Grandma’s kitchen. Stuffed cabbage, brisket, and potatoes and onions just to name a few.
I also looked forward to heading to the local luncheonette with Grandpa for an egg cream and a trip to Nathan’s in Coney Island for the crunchy snap from the bite of a Nathan’s hot dog. I have to give my mom props too. Some Sunday mornings the smell of bacon would fill the house and wake the kids up from a deep sleep.
Then there are non food smells that also take me back to childhood. The smell of wet grass in the Summer, the smell of gasoline from the teenagers revving their engines to race each other down the street, and the bug spray truck that would ride through the neighborhood. We used to run through the poisonous fog trail left behind as the truck drove down the block. I know, we were idiots, what did we know?
What smell instantly takes you back to your childhood?
