There are meals and there are meals!

All you can do is nod your head in agreement when your colleague or friend says anything; truth be told you aren't there physically anymore because you are lost in space.

There are meals that make you forgive yourself for things you will scold your child for...while at an event or outing have you ever spilled oil or pepper on your clothes?

If the food is not tasty I bet you will be upset at yourself but if the food is delicious and well you know for lack of better words "food pornlike"....i bet you will forgive yourself even if the stain is visible, you tell yourself "its not a big deal".

There are meals that make you go home and challenge your spouse, here you have to tread carefully lest your spouse loses her head and begins to interrogate you on where, what, how and who gave you such food to eat.

There are meals that make you seek out the chef or cook not only to commend their prowess but to ask for tips on how to make something similar.

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And then there are meals that send you back in time, meals that send you back many many years probably to your childhood or teenage years.

Meals that immediately make you start opening up to the person next to you.

First you begin talking about your love for this food and then you progress to the first time you ever had this food, then your discussion with this hitherto unknown stranger (or in my case was my mother) progresses again further into the subsequent events that unfolded in your life after the meal.

The kind of meal that brings back memories that have been hidden in the deep recess of your mind.

Recent Occurance.

So far this year I have had only two meals that have sent me back in time.

One was in the UK last month with my mother, we went out shopping and stopped over at Mcdonalds and the outlet had Mcdonalds signature meals namely the classic, the bbq and one other one I cant remember.

Anyway I opted for the signature classic and we sat in the car to eat.

Maybe it was because we had the AC on and the windows rolled up or maybe because my taste and smell organs were unleashed; i really dont know but what i want to say is that the first bite sent me back to when i was 11 years old, my first time ever in the UK with my mum and dad for holiday.

My first time ever sinking my teeth into a Macdonald burger...the second bite of the signature classic burger reminded me of the unique taste and vibrant smell...the combination which had registered in my mind years ago which i thought i had forgotten but was revived by this second bite.

Then the third bite had me and my mum talking about those days in the past, I mean we actually had a moment there because we just began talking and talking about those sweet good old days.

Now the second time I had a meal that sent me back to my past is Today, just a few minutes  ago as depicted in that empty plate I posted up.

Na beans o....just beans swimming in water and little palm oil, eaten with palm oil fried plantain and fish pepper sauce.

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So I am at my sister-in-law's house in Ikoyi and I was served this beans.

Sadly I dont have a picture to share because I never knew I was going to share this experience...remember I said some meals just make you remember your past and then subsequently makes you start confessing, well I have opened up and confessed in the previous paragraphs.

But truth be told, this beans sent me back to when I was like 9years old when I used to go to my mummy surulere's house for holidays (my maternal grandma).

She would send me three houses down the street to go buy these beans, I remember the old woman Late Iya Bose (rest in peace Ma) who sells the beans. She would open a giant cauldron sitting on large pieces of wood burning fiercely, even the lid of the cauldron looked heavy and made me wonder where she got strength to lift it up and whenever she opened the lid, the scent of the beans will waft through the air and engage anyone passing on the street. Then inside the cauldron you will see loads of beans mashed up, some still swollen and whole, fighting to soak in water.

And she will ask me how much beans I want, then she will dip her huge spoon to one side of the filled up pot and sell...she was a brownskin tall slim old woman, mostly in faded white horizontally stripped wrapper and blouse and had a way of tying one funny looking gele.

She had tribal marks on the side of both cheeks and she lived with her only teenage daughter Bose who had no interest in continuing the trade.

She sold beans from a rickety makeshift stall made of wood leaning on a fence with a party canopy material for a roof and she sold to all sorts of people, it was in her stall that I saw for the first in my life people eating yam, beans, rice and dodo together in one plate.

I remember those guys well, hausa men going out for labour jobs on a construction site on our street then...they ate with their hands sitting on the floor, metallic plates on the floor in between their open legs ...this is a picture that I had forgotten, locked deep in the recess of my mind and I recalled that picture today and a lot of other nostalgic childhood memories from my past when I took 1, 2, 3 bites of the beans I ate today at my sister-in-laws house in Parkview Estate, Ikoyi.

Thank you for reading and if you have experienced such meals lately that sent you back in time, please share.

Mine today is plain beans and dodo with fish sauce,  but I truly never imagined I would experience a "ratatouille moment" that would inspire this article.

Written by Oluwakayode Adeyemi-kayne

Oluwakayode Adeyemi-Kayne (Shuga) is a documentary film maker and a foodie by passion