Which food, when you eat it, instantly transports you to childhood?

What food instantly takes me back to my childhood? Hmm, let me think …

My first thoughts go to my dad’s homemade spaghetti sauce. My mom’s pumpkin bread comes in as a very close second.

My dad started making the family spaghetti sauce when I was in high school. We were a family of five and he had dietary restrictions that kept most premade sauces out of our cabinets due to the salt content.

We kids ate lots of food growing up, and he figured it would be healthier and cheaper if he made his own sauce.

Over the years, he experimented — vegetable-filled sauce stores better than sauce with ground beef in it.

Garlic powder isn’t as good as garlic itself. He had his own seasoning mix that is still a mystery to me.

Mountain Kid 2 and a friend work on making food for a community service activity. He likes to cook.

My oldest son, Mountain Kid 2, loves learning how to cook. His favorite and possibly best dish is pasta.

He prefers Alfredo sauce or ranch, but indulges in experimenting with red, tomato-based sauce. He has his own secret spice blend that he adds to a lot of the things he makes.

It’s almost like having dad in the kitchen again.

As to the pumpkin bread, it is moist and like pumpkin pie you can carry in your hand. It’s really good warm. I should probably make some sometime.

I actually have the recipe for it, but tend to use a version that has less ingredients. It’s not the same as mom’s, and I can tell. But it’s still divine.

What food takes you back to your childhood?