Hello everyone. New member Cheese Galore here and this is my first post. 😀
As I'm sure you can guess from my name, I do love cheese a lot. The odd fact is that I come from India where we are not known for being a cheese loving nation compared to a lot of other countries. But my tastes started to change when I moved to US more than ten years ago. And let me tell you, this is a country that seems to put cheese on everything. And I love it! 🧀😂
As a child my mother used to make for us a mixture of potato, paneer cheese, and spinach that was shaped into little patties and fried. That was a teatime snack for us and even now when I go back to India, that's what I really like my mom to make for me. It's absolutely the taste of my childhood. I've tried making it myself but of course it's never as good as my mom's.
What I would like to know is what cheese dishes have you been enjoying since your childhood days? What special memories does it bring back for you?
We do love our cheese and growing up we ate loads of it. In a sandwich or a salad, on toast, in pasta. You name it, there was probably cheese on it! Someone here has mentioned the cheesy baked beans which I also enjoyed but I had them on a jacket spud rather than on toast. And of course there was pizza as well. But my ultimate favourite was strawberry cheesecake and it still is.
A lot of the cheese dishes people have talked about here have come straight out of my childhood years. But one that no one has mentioned yet is nachos! My mum used to make a huge tray of those of family parties, and even now when I so much as see them on a menu, family celebrations are all I can think about. I think to my mum, nachos were something very exotic! Haha! Mexican food or Tex Mex dishes aren't so well known in Britain as they now, and no where near the level of popularity in America.
I'm half Jamaican, and we have a tradition called bun and cheese that has links to Easter time but some of us just eat it as a snack whenever we like. It is just a sweet, spiced Caribbean bun with a slice of cheese in it. It might sound strange to some people, but to those who have never tried it, it really is very scrumptious and delicious. Now that I'm living in Australia where it isn't easy to come across authentic Caribbean cuisine and ingredients, I really do miss it. I come from a part of London where us Caribbeans are the biggest group so obviously it was very easy to get our food there. So dishes like bun and cheese which I have been eating since childhood remind me of holidays to Jamaica to see my family, my old hometown, my family and my Jamaican roots.
Grilled cheese and fries without a doubt. To me that's the perfect comfort food and something my mom used to make us. Now I make it for my children. And that's closely followed by a cheeseburger. With mac n' cheese coming third!
LOL! This is easy - pizza! And lots of it! We always knew it was going to be a great dinner when my mom or dad called out for a pizza. Even now that I'm an adult, married with my own home, I still love pizza. Doesn't matter if it's take out or we go out for a pizza. It's still my favourite thing and takes me back to childhood and growing up in my family home.
As Donna Bella said, cheese sauce also reminds me of my home economics lessons at school. We learnt to make it and then we had a choice of making either macaroni cheese or cauliflower cheese, and that was then followed a week later with a lasagna. So all of those dishes remind me of growing up and school days. I also grew up being a bit of a cheese lover. One of my favourite things was cheesy potatoes and it still is.
Something that always takes me back to childhood summers is a Ploughman's lunch. My mum would make that for us all to have a nibble out in the garden, or in the park for a picnic, and it was something my dad would often order in the pub to have with his cider. In fact I think he still does.
The fact that I'm a vegan of course means that I have to switch to vegan cheese and omit the ham, but I'm glad I can still enjoy a good Ploughman's.
Growing up money was quite scarce especially as there were five of us kids. So we did have cheese with lots of our snacks and meals because it was quite economical (providing you didn't go for the expensive French or Italian cheeses!) and Mum would be happy knowing we were getting our calcium and other nutrients.
A lot of the dishes mentioned here were served up in our house. But one that takes me right back to the days of my childhood and conjures up wonderful memories of family is Welsh rarebit. For those who are not familiar with this dish, it's basically a type of cheese sauce that's spooned over thick slices of bread and then grilled, although you can skip the grilling bit if you want. We used to have it as a snack or as a light supper with a poached egg and a green salad. Delicious!
I consume cheese very sparingly these days (as Cheese Galore knows!) but a cheese dish that always brings back memories of family and childhood are these Hungarian style sweet pancakes that my mom used to make with cottage cheese. I think they are usually served in Hungary with a type of fruit jam but my mom would add maple syrup or chocolate ice-cream topping. Maybe not very authentic but delicious. It's still the perfect comfort food for me when I visit home even now.
A lot of what everyone has already mentioned here: jacket spuds, macaroni, pizza. We had cheese on just about everything! I remember my mum used to make cheesy bubble and squeak and also topped shepherd's pie with lots of grated cheese. And I remember when we learned to make a cheese sauce for home ec. So whenever I think of cheese sauces I think of my home economics classes and school days. Hehe!
Ooh, bring on the cheese!!! 😁🧀 As I now need to watch my weight, cheese isn't something I indulge in as much as I used to. But as a child, cheese was practically on everything. Pizza, cheeseburgers, jacket potatoes, cheese on toast, the lot! And as I'm from an Anglo-Italian background, cheese did feature on the menu a lot, and I was eating mozzarella, mascarpone and ricotta long before they became as popular as they are now.
I have three dishes which take me back to when i was a child - macaroni cheese, cheesy beans on toast, and cauliflower cheese. No idea if anyone dishes up cauliflower cheese any more but I still love it. My mum was quite clever because she would add bacon bits to it, and sprinkle a light mixture of breadcrumbs and chopped almonds. Delicious! Sometimes she also mixed in broccoli with the cauliflower.
I still make all three dishes for my kids now.
A big welcome to our newest member and many thanks for your fab question, Cheese Galore!
I was a very fussy eater as a child, if it wasn't full of sugar chances are I wouldn't eat it! And I absolutely hated cheese. No one in my family really was very keen on anything cheesy, so you've never find a block of cheddar or anything in our fridge. So it's amazing that these days I absolutely love it and I'm well known for my cheeseboards at gatherings! A lot of the things I like do contain cheese, and here are very few things with cheese in it that I won't eat. But I still won't eat cheese salads - reminds me too much of school dinners - and I can't stomach quiche either partly because of school dinners and partly because I can't stand the taste or smell!
But going back to your question of childhood cheesy foods we liked, well one of the first things I started eating with cheese as a child was pizza and that was swiftly followed by cheesecake - two things I still enjoy a great deal!
I don't have to be asked twice - macaroni cheese! My mum used to make it for us and now I do the same for my kids and they absolutely love it. But they're very fussy about it and won't finish it if it's quite dry. They prefer a more sauce-laden texture. Me, dry or saucy, I really don't care as long as there's a good amount of cheese! 😁🧀