I definitely understand that sense of nostalgia for something that doesn't exist. I think it's the yearning for a time when we had less things to worry about, few stressors affecting our lives, less awareness of the horrors of the world around us.
There are for me some foods that absolutely do induce strong memories from my childhood, whether it's my maternal grandmother's besan ladoos, or the kind of knicker bocker glories mum used to help my sister and I make for birthdays, some foods do take me back.
But a lot are, as you said, just foods I enjoyed then and still enjoy then. They don't take me back to any time, they just satisfy me now as they did then.
"Nostalgia in reverse, the longing for yet another strange land, grew especially strong in spring." ~ Vladimir Nabokov.
I think it probably applied to Japan for you long before you'd ever been, as I often find it does to me when I've read about a place for so long but not yet been.
I definitely understand that sense of nostalgia for something that doesn't exist. I think it's the yearning for a time when we had less things to worry about, few stressors affecting our lives, less awareness of the horrors of the world around us.
There are for me some foods that absolutely do induce strong memories from my childhood, whether it's my maternal grandmother's besan ladoos, or the kind of knicker bocker glories mum used to help my sister and I make for birthdays, some foods do take me back.
But a lot are, as you said, just foods I enjoyed then and still enjoy then. They don't take me back to any time, they just satisfy me now as they did then.
When it comes to travel, I must share a favourite quote with you about nostalgia for a place we've never been: https://www.kaveyeats.com/travel-quote-tuesday-vladimir-nabokov
"Nostalgia in reverse, the longing for yet another strange land, grew especially strong in spring." ~ Vladimir Nabokov.
I think it probably applied to Japan for you long before you'd ever been, as I often find it does to me when I've read about a place for so long but not yet been.