Meals can serve as a means of many different things. A means for survival, creative expression, affection and also a way to access memories and past experiences. For many, food and drink serve as a pathway to nostalgia and times passed, a kind of symbiotic relationship between memory, food and the five senses. So, I’d like to dive into how and why this is notable for people living with dysphagia.
Memories associated with food are some of the strongest that we form because they involve all five of our senses when we experience them. There is a famous saying that “you eat with your eyes first” which implies that part of the meal experience is enjoying the presentation of the food on your plate or the drink in front of you- the colours, the arrangement, the textures. We smell the aromas of the food which is linked with our gustatory experience too. We feel the different textures in our mouth be they crunchy, chewy or velvety smooth. We also experience the food by what we hear- a chomp, a slurp, a squelch 💦
An example of how strong our memory is linked to food and drink can be seen through conditional taste aversion. This is when you have had a bad experience with a kind of food or drink such as nausea or vomiting 🤢 Thereafter, it’s not unusual to experience sensations of nausea when smelling, seeing or tasting that food again. In fact, it demonstrates how one’s sensory memory is so strong that it can evoke a physical response from the body.
Arguably, for everyone, there is an element of nostalgia in meals. It could be a certain dish, a secret ingredient or an unusual finish on a dish that triggers it. More often than not, the nostalgia associated with food takes us to a place and time that is not the present, that has since passed or perhaps doesn’t exist anymore. The experience could take someone back to childhood, their grandparents' place, a special holiday or a first date. For some, it can be nostalgia for a particular person they knew, and in this sense, it’s not just the food that can be bitter sweet. For me, whenever I smell a particular blend of herbs and spices, I’m transported to my grandmother’s kitchen and I am a child again! She is busy cooking away and I am just trying not to get in the way 🫣
Memory associated with food has also been found to be most strongly linked to food texture rather than the assumed smell or taste that is so often associated with meals. In knowing this, it’s important to highlight how that changes so significantly for someone living with dysphagia. Where it is typically the texture of the food that is modified to make foods safe and comfortable, it means that a huge element of what we experience is altered or no longer accessible 🚫
Of course, that’s not to say that new memories can’t be formed or old memories can’t be accessed with the lesser amount of texture options available on a modified diet. However, it is important to explore and find as much variety of texture as possible within the guidelines of each diet recommendation or level. It’s also important to then draw on the other elements involved to uplift the experience and focus on the presentation, colours, flavours and aromas to elevate the meal.
So get curious and get creative ✨
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