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Collected Item: “Tastes like Home”

Give your story a title.

Tastes like Home

What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?

Text Story and Recipe

Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.

The pandemic changed so many things about everyday life, and even our food wasn't spared. Not only did the effects of COVID-19 attack our sense of taste, but it even affected those who hadn't contracted it. Going out to restaurants was completely out of the question, and to avoid spending too much money on take-out, my family continued to brave the grocery stores. There was a silver lining, though, because it started to change the way we felt about meals. I spent more time cooking with them back home in Vienna, VA, and now that I live here in Tempe I find a lot of those habits have stuck with me.

I'm especially glad that I started baking more before I left home. Baking was a way to get the whole family together and give each of us something to look forward to that day, in a time when days kind of blended together and none of us knew what to expect. What's more, we'd all heard stories about how early COVID symptoms included loss of smell and taste, so I think there was a small part of me that was reassured by actually being able to taste what we'd all worked on together. I included a brownie recipe that I use a lot with this post, so you can try it if you like and get a taste for how it still offers me some comfort.

Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?

Arizona State University, HST 643, Sensory History, Taste History

Enter a URL associated with this object, if relevant.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/25010/absolutely-best-brownies/

Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)

Michael Wohl

Give this story a date.

2020-06-01
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