30/06/2025
At Green Elephant, we talk about something called Flavour Memory a lot, because even if you lose your sense of smell, taste, or even motivation to eat, the memory of flavour can still spark something inside you.
Our olfactory system and limbic system are directly linked - smell, emotion, and memory.
That’s why one bite of something familiar can bring back a feeling, a place, or a person. It’s not just nostalgia—it’s neuroscience.
On Friday, we cooked an Indonesian-inspired menu drawn from one of my own deep flavour memories: learning Bahasa Indonesia in primary school and taking part in school-wide feasts. Each class would make a dish, and we’d all eat together, sitting in rows of tables in the assembly room, sharing food and stories.
This cook brought that memory to life again, we had
Satay sauce, Roasted vegetables, Grilled tempeh, and a Mocha-flavoured kue lapis – a traditional Indonesian dessert of steamed layer cake!
Many thanks to Ed and the participants of the Reconnect Transition Program at Brain Injury SA for helping us to connect over food and create new memories in community.
