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During the Covid lockdowns here (Adelaide, Australia), a local fruit and veg supplier to restaurants began supplying domestically. I have never seen such great quality produce - it was excellent and far far better than supermarkets or retail fruit and veg shops. Items were around the same prices as supermarkets but much better quality, better tasting and often larger - eg fennel bulbs, celeriacs etc. The fennel! I particularly remember it!

I was devestated at the end of the lockdowns and they returned to being restaurant-only suppliers. But now I have a home veggie garden so can't complain too loudly.

@whitewoods at least in NYC you have access to Jersey tomatoes. The season is fairly short but oh man. People in the south where I live now (and where the tomato season is a lot longer) can’t believe it when I tell them that New Jersey produces the best tomatoes.

I once bought a case of Alphonso mangos that had been imported from India. We don't get them here often, although some of the other Indian mangos like Kesar appear occasionally. I saw a mention of them on Facebook and immediately went to get them. Alphonso have the reputation of being the best mango globally, although some have other ideas. They were amazing, absolutely stunning. I couldn't eat a case, so I sliced and dehydrated the rest - the dehydrated mango was also incredible, with an intense flavour.

I also remember eating morel mushrooms for the first time when I was working in France. A revelation! I couldn't believe that we didn't have them locally. We still don't. Some restaurants have them but I have never seen them fresh in stores.

My first taste of morel mushrooms was in Vancouver at John Bishop's restaurant about fifteen years ago. I can no longer remember the dish but I've been in search of that flavor ever since. I found them once at the Farmer's Market and once a friend of mine brought me a bag of them her grandkids had foraged! Part of what makes them so special is they can't be cultivated, they must be foraged. Their season is also ephemeral, adding to their scarcity.

Originally Posted by: whitewoods

I made the mistake of not forcing my sister to eat one. I think perhaps the reason that she's never liked tomatoes are because of the type that we get in NYC, which usually have pale inner flesh and a spongy texture. I was just an idiot, and it didn't occur to me to make her taste that tomato--because I think that was a perfect example of how a tomato is really supposed to taste. I've had homegrown tomatoes occasionally in the years since, but still none as tasty as those St. Augustine ones..

Ahah this resonnates because I don't like tomatoes! I think initially because the texture of the inside looked gross to me as a child, and then because I was forced to eat it by a friend of my mother (I was staying at hers without my mother, she made a tomato salad, I politely said I didn't like them but would have "just one", she gave me a whole plate of it and then said "yes, one tomato", I physically felt like throwing up each bite, and now I don't like them).

Sorry the question was GOOD memories ahahahah :)

The first food I fell in love with was snails and lobster mousse which I ate at a family reunion because I refused to eat the bland offering of the children table and I pleaded with my uncles for the adult version, and fell in love with it. For a while, when my mother asked me what I felt like eating I responded "snails or lobster mousse" :) :) :) :) Snobbish I know, but I suspect that is because my mother is not a very good cook, and that is the first time I tasted something else.

As for produce, I remember the wild blueberries I picked with my cousins in the mountains, and the blueberry tarts we made with it, walnut tarts as well as a specialty of the same region. 

But I only became fond of good produce when I started cooking, which is when I moved to London and gradually started to really miss French food : I started to make my own. I remember how vividly I was missing all of the food, cheese in particular, but the biggest craving I had, and the first thing I did when I moved back, was good butter on a real baguette.