Our memories of food are some of the strongest we hold on to. Whether they come from feeling homesick or from missing your grandmother's cooking, these recipes are the ones bringing Food.com users back to their childhood — making them sentimental for kitchens of the past.
These reviews have been edited for content and clarity.
"The hardest part about moving out on your own is missing your mom's home cooking. Any Bengali household you visit will have some version of this curry, and everyone thinks their own mom's version is the best. It may never taste exactly like her cooking, but whenever I make this, I am reminded of the times I hovered over her shoulder, trying to figure it all out, and having her shoo me away because I slowed her down."
-Soma Roy
"My dad was from Calabria, and we spent many a Sunday morning sitting around the kitchen table making big batches of gnocchi. Dad would make the dough, and we kids would roll the pillows. We all knew the process, but no one knew the actual recipe. When dad passed, the secret died with him—until I found your Nanna's recipe. One look at it and I knew I'd found Pop's recipe too. Making these delicious little bundles of love brought back so many memories."
-Joe C.
"Thank you for this recipe. Living far from home isn't easy, and being able to find this recipe made me feel like I was back home in Samoa."
-Silofa O.
"This hearty soup is very popular in my country, Chile, where the cold days of winter call for warm, filling dishes. It's usually served as a main dish, garnished with either chopped cilantro and crumbled hard boiled eggs or grated parmesan cheese."
-marceladns
"I'm Hungarian, and I go back to my family's home in Hungary every year! This is the way they make their spaetzle. Perfect! So yummy! It bought me back home."
-Edes Alizka
"This is a variation of a popular Filipino dish called bistek a la pobre. It is a mainstay in my family's weekly dinner menu back home. The beauty of this recipe is that it is very flexible and you can make it any way you want it. My mom would sometimes make this with finely chopped carrots. "
-Pinaygourmet 345142
"Strange as it may sound, this cake tastes wonderful. I fell in love with a cake called basbousa while staying in Jordan, and couldn't find semolina anywhere here back home in the States, so I made up my own version using cream of wheat. Funny how we miss things only when we don't have them."
-alAmira
"When we first immigrated to the U.S., my mother did not know how to cook (she boiled everything). This was one of my favorite dishes. We usually had two or three other dishes with meat or seafood, a soup and a vegetable (this serves as the vegetable dish) with steamed white rice for dinner."
-Nado2003
"I was actually thinking about Googling "Rudy's Hot Dog Sauce" when I came across your recipe. I am stoked! We moved from Toledo about eight months ago to a tiny town in Mid-Missouri; there is nothing here that even resembles a Rudy's or Netty's and I so miss them!"
-Mrs. C
"This tasty soup is very popular in Greece and Cyprus. I remember my father making it on chilly winter days, especially when there were colds and flu in the household! Sometimes he would add chopped, cooked chicken to the soup, and other times he would serve it plain. This is a taste of my childhood."
-truebrit
"We emigrated to Australia from the UK, and apart from the BBC, what we miss the most is Indian food. After 7 years of desperately searching for replacement recipes, our search is finally over: this is the best Vindaloo recipe ever!"
-Brusti P.
"I used to watch my grandmother (whose family was from Slovakia) make these dumplings by dipping the batter from a measuring cup into the boiling chicken soup. I've tried for 50 years to find out the ingredients and the method that I saw her use. All I found was disappointment—until now. This is exactly what I witnessed during my childhood. To my surprise, it is ridiculously simple."
-iamrandyb06
"I grew up eating this, as I from Northern Ireland. Kind of a go-to comfort food meal and my husband and son love it now too. We did not put cottage roll in the oven when I was a kid, but with this recipe, you can't go wrong!"
-Judith D.
"The summer is fading away, and in my dreams, I see my beloved Greece. This delicious recipe brings me back to summer and to Greece with its perfume and look. How good this is for us! Here in Switzerland I did not have small eggplants, so I used four big ones, halved and filled as prescribed."
-Artandkitchen
"This is a delightful and authentic recipe. I have been to Din Tai Fung in Singapore (a highly recommended place for good xiao long bao!), and I've always wanted to make XLB. This recipe was easy and worked the first time. I have a Shanghainese partner, and the ultimate test was with my 92-year-old father-in-law, who loved them!"
-JBinSFO
"I've been looking for this recipe since I was a little girl. My mom, who now has Alzheimer's, doesn't remember what was in the recipe. I think I finally found what I've been longing for: a taste of home in Quebec!"
-Diane S.
"This recipe, out of many that I have tried over the years, comes closest to my grandmother's version. You have not only made my day, but my sister's as well! Brings back so many childhood memories."
-Chef Africa
"This recipe brings me back to my days as an exchange student outside of Copenhagen. This is so yummy and pretty darn easy. My kids love to help make the meatballs!"
-Piper C
"This recipe takes us back home to Barcelona, Spain. On a recent visit, we went to a tapas restaurant, which inspired us to create this dish. It mixes two famous Catalan tapas—tortilla de patatas (a potato and onion omelet) and escalivada (roasted peppers and eggplant)."
-May I Have That Recipe
"These are exactly what we ate as children at Christmastime. We grew up in a small town in Minnesota where there were lots of people from Croatia. I will be surprising my dad with these on Christmas. I wouldn't change a thing!"
-Not Martha
"We used to eat these in India on rainy evenings... Something all my cousins and I always looked forward to. But I didn't know how to make them. Thanks for the recipe. It tasted just like my mother's."
-Swati Banerjee
"I’m from the New Orleans area and of all the things I miss, delicious bread is at the top of the list. I made this bread today and it was amazing. Crusty on the outside and soft on the inside. Will definitely be making it again."
-Heather D.
"My Egyptian mother-in-law taught me how to make these, but in Egypt, you buy the little pancakes already made, so all we did was make the filling and then cook them in the sugar water. I have been craving these ever since I returned to the U.S. and now I can finally make them and eat them again. Thanks so much!"
-K1mm1y
"This is the Finnish recipe for pannukakku. Granny came from Finland and it was hard to talk with her because she didn't learn English. But this is the recipe from her country."
-rbeard729_12089495
"I grew up in the Philippines, and am always looking for good pandesal recipes. Every time my brother visits me from Vancouver, I ask him to buy me pandesal from the Filipino stores since we don't have any here in Vancouver Island. My husband made it for the first time, and it was excellent; we're currently making two more batches to share with friends."
-vectek
"This is the way my mom made fried rice—she got the recipe when we were stationed in Okinawa in 1974. I used chopped green pepper and a little frozen corn. Thanks for a wonderful recipe with very clear directions. The directions about not using water-releasing veggies is spot-on."
-pamela t.
"Yes, yes, yes! My Medz Mama ("grandma" in Armenian) used to make this for breakfast. So warming and good. Just seeing the recipe makes me miss her. Simple, easy and delicious tea."
-Little Tomato
"When I was back home in England recently, I visited a local lavender farm and had tea and these delicious lavender scones in their delightful little tea room. This is my attempt to recreate them using some of my lavender from the garden here in France! I have made them several times now, and they have turned out just as I remembered them—especially good if split while still warm, buttered, and spread with lavender honey or lavender-infused cream!"
-French Tart
"Sweet and fruity. Reminds me of my visits with my grandmother when I was younger. She used to make this every time we visited."
-Chef Fiona26
"This is my all-time favorite thing you can get in the bakery back home in New Zealand. You can't get them here which is such a shame."
-Perfect Pixie
