I thought about the fact that there are dishes, the taste of which unites whole generations. Or, now it would be more accurate to say - did they exist?
I will try to explain the thought.
Look, after the war, during the rebuilding of the country from the ruins, there was... a vinaigrette everywhere on the tables. Cheap and cheerful - there are no particularly outstanding products in its recipe (or rather, in the vinaigrette recipe of those times). Only vegetables and some sunflower oil.
There was no sausage or herring, which was also a delicacy in the ruined country.
The vinaigrette was prepared for a feast, for the world, and for good people. Basins.
Besides the vinaigrette - ice cream. The very Soviet ice cream, which, as eyewitnesses who have survived to this day say, was an amazingly tasty delicacy, but rather rare. And it smelled like the most natural vanilla, not what it is now.
By the way, younger people also remember ice cream, but not with such trepidation. However, it is not surprising - the mother of my colleague, who was born in 43, said that she tried ordinary waffles only in high school.
Then, when life became easier and more satisfying, Olivier, herring under a fur coat, and Mimosa salad were added to the tables.
They also cooked them for a feast and for the world - that is, they could even make them on an everyday table. Undoubtedly, there are much more such dishes, but I can only remember those that are constantly heard, I myself did not live then.
But the times of stagnation, although he himself was born later, are familiar better. Our parents' generation describes them well.
And there - sausage "Doctor", sausages "Dairy", and also - meat in French, for example, and the Soviet version of julienne. And also - tobacco chickens, which were served in all more or less decent cafes and restaurants, and were not so expensive.
I can remember more dishes and products that my generation is nostalgic about. It is about them that they usually talk when remembering the "Soviet times". Here you have fried boiled sausage, and sandwiches with sprats, and lemonade, and also chocolate-covered curds, biscuit cakes, and, of course, homemade cakes: nuts and tubes stuffed with boiled condensed milk!
However, the "tastes of childhood" can be enumerated endlessly.
But! When it comes to the present times, I must admit, I get a little lost. Dishes of past generations, on the one hand, are very traditional, on the other, many stop cooking them.
But the dishes of the present time, such that on every table, so that they would later be remembered by a whole generation, are no longer left. Not to consider them custom-made sushi rolls and pizza, right?
Shl. Now, if the collective mind ponders this question... Can you name at least something that can become a gustatory or culinary symbol of the present time?