Life in Five Senses by Gretchen Rubin

Author:Gretchen Rubin [Rubin, Gretchen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crown
Published: 2023-04-18T00:00:00+00:00

Writing a Tastes Timeline

When writer Marcel Proust ate a tea-soaked madeleine cookie, he was famously flooded with memories of the past, and today the “Proust effect” refers to an intense, emotional memory sparked by the senses. However, while Proust’s madeleine moment is often associated with the power of scent, Proust actually writes more about the taste of that famous madeleine.

As I reflected on my own taste memories, I immediately thought of Winstead’s, a diner in Kansas City. I’m sure that I’ve sat in every booth, touched every plastic menu, and pulled napkins from every dispenser. When I was growing up, it was a treat to go whenever my mother didn’t feel like cooking or when a day was particularly busy. I always order the same thing, though over the years I’ve graduated from a single Winstead burger, to a double Winstead, to a triple Winstead, without the bun.

Winstead’s diner is an important symbol of our family identity and history: We’re a family that loves Winstead’s. Every time Elizabeth or I return to Kansas City, we eat at Winstead’s on our very first day back, we always take a photo in front of its green neon sign, and we’ve taught our own families to love Winstead’s. How many times have I heard my father say, “I’d like a double Winstead, please, with everything, no cheese”? And every time we dig in to those flat, lacy, spicy burgers, I feel the connections strengthen.

On my last visit, I swiped a menu as a souvenir.

Inspired by Proust and by Winstead’s, I decided to gather my remembrances of tastes past in a timeline. To conjure memories, I tried to recall the tastes that were most typical (the food and drink that I most often tasted during that period) or most distinctive (the food and drink that I enjoyed at that time, and no other time).

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