
You know that scene in Ratatouille when the mean critic takes a bite of Remy’s food and is instantly catapulted into his deepest childhood memory banks? In the literary world, this is referred to as a "Proustian madeleine" — taking a bite of something that involuntarily makes long-forgotten memories come flooding back. My Proustian madeleine has to do with tortellini al pesto, the destruction of my completely pure, innocent childhood worldview, and a formula for comfort that I follow to...