A piece of bread smeared with butter, poured with jam on top is a taste of childhood that cannot be forgotten. And you can't repeat it, no matter how hard you try.
You can search for logical explanations for this as much as you like, they say, before the oil was more oily, the berries were more berry. But even if you buy the most expensive and natural butter, and take the "grandmother's" jam (from berries harvested on the same the site itself, if not from the same bush), then the magical taste of a sandwich that seemed almost like a cake - not will.
And now you can find “the same lemonade” - many companies now make soda according to Soviet recipes, “Sayany”, “Buratino”, “Duchess”, “Tarhun”, “Baikal” are in stores. I haven't seen Bakhmaro. And we buy them... But "that very taste" - no.
And what about black bread, grated with garlic, sprinkled with salt, sprinkled with fragrant vegetable oil, those that smell like "fried sunflower seeds"?
I once made myself this snack, which as a child went for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the summer (and what time is to lose food at home, when you can run away with a piece of bread with your friends, especially in the village?), but... That's not something and that's it.
And the bread, by the way, was delicious. Good. Fragrant with a crispy crust and a porous, baked crumb. And the oil smelled all over the kitchen. But all the same - not that.
And yes, I am sure (and already wrote once) that the “taste of childhood” is made up not only of tastes, but also of memories associated with these tastes and smells. And the taste itself is, alas, secondary, and if we repeat it, it is “not the same” - there are no “conditions” that made it meaningful, unforgettable.
But the very perception of tastes in our country, of course, changes, dulls - this is difficult to deny. What exploded with bright fireworks in childhood begins to seem insipid, too sweet with age. for example, or in general - flat, expressionless.
But what in childhood belonged to the categories "how adults eat this dirty trick" - becomes tasty.
I still remember how, getting to restaurants or cafes close to restaurants with my parents, I extracted black, shiny olives from the hodgepodge, and did not understand: why add this muck to a delicious soup?
Parents laughed and argued - it's delicious! Now I like olives and olives very much.
What about chili peppers? True, during my childhood they did not know such a thing as "chili", there was just red hot pepper - for some people it even grew in pots on windowsills. And for me as a child, this pepper was... a paradox. How can such an appetizing, elegant, red pepper turn out to be such a burning and inedible filth? And adults, unlike children, liked him... And now I like the spiciness in dishes.
And, as it seems to me, you can list a lot of products that were tasty in childhood, in memories - "the taste of golden childhood", but now - not that. And vice versa - what seemed disgusting in childhood is now delicious.
Have you noticed?