Nothing like chocolate cake flavoured with nostalgia

It started with glace cherries. Or more accurately, when our hosts thanked us for the cake that we didn’t send them. It was an old-fashioned chocolate number, neatly iced and punctuated by four red nipples. Confusion followed when it was determined that the gift might have been received in error on Friday afternoon at the chaotic time when the doorbell is known to ring, when there’s little opportunity to chat, and when gifts are delivered.

Ownership not fully determined, it seemed a pity to let something fresh go to waste. And so, not since somewhere in the early 1990s, I bit into the sickly-sweet cherry on top prize that I would have fought for as a child. As the squish of the texture burst to full flavour, I was transported back to birthday parties, to cupcakes – called cookies back then – to mock crayfish, trifle, and a time long past.

The concept of heritage foods has become increasingly more important. It refers to traditional foods and recipes that have been passed down through generations within a culture, region, or family. These dishes are deeply tied to cultural identity, history, and customs, often reflecting local ingredients, preparation methods, and the influence of specific historical events or social practices. For example, South African heritage foods might include dishes like bobotie, biltong, and chakalaka, and Jewish heritage foods include challah, gefilte fish, and matzo ball soup, with variations depending on Ashkenazi or Sephardic backgrounds.

Heritage foods are important because they keep culinary not only cultural traditions alive, help maintain cultural connections, but also family history. So that “Granny’s jam biscuits”, although probably lifted directly from Myrna Rosen, still take on a heavenly quality long after granny has baked her last tray. And especially because granny wasn’t the innocent old matriarch she pretended to be and lied about the provenance of the “family” jam biscuits.

The graveyard of dated foods is significant. For some, it might be Koo stewed peaches, teiglach, glace cherries, cola tonic and lemonade, and chopped herring, while for others it might be p’tcha, which is a stomach churning, nausea inducing traditional Eastern European Jewish dish made from simmering calf’s feet with onions, garlic, and spices until the broth becomes rich and gelatinous and then allowing it to set into a jelly. It’s recommended to take 4mg of Zofran before preparation, and 4mg immediately after consumption.

South Africans living abroad will attest to the power of nostalgic food. Mrs Balls Chutney, South African Cadbury chocolates, biltong, and Rooibos tea are oft sought items for those who want a taste of back-in-the-day, and many will agree that no matter how long they live in a country, they still can’t get used to the taste of a specific item (normally chocolate).

Whereas foods like mock crayfish and p’tcha are unlikely to make a revival, trifle and “hundreds and thousands” sprinkles might. Where glace cherries are unlikely to be in high demand from our children and grandchildren, there’s a good chance that in 40 years’ time, they will bump into a “homeless cake-pop” and be reminded of the fried sushi that they would eat back then.

I’m unlikely to find out who sent the chocolate cake to our hosts. But I do want to thank them for providing me with memories of my parents, my grandparents, and of a childhood past. It might or might not be true that nostalgia is heroin for adults, but it’s unequivocal that the cherry on top isn’t what is used to be.