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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.

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.

peaches or apricots right off the tree are delicious.  We have you pick your own type of orchards about hour and half away.  Love white peaches.  Tried growing peaches in my yard but did not do well.  Probably not enough heat in our micro climate area. But other fruits do really well. 

Lovely thread indeed.

Best produce I ever had are wild cardoon mushrooms and figs. It brings back memories of the year I stayed with my grandparents in La Mancha. When picking the wild mushrooms it was very tender how my grandfather reacted, when he found some in his path, he would tell me, Mar lets change paths because I am not lucky to find any in this and when I changed path and found the mushroom he previously found I was so inmensely happy and shout with happiness look what I have found, another one!!! and he giggled...

My fondest food memories all involve freshly picked fruit. The white peaches I had many decades ago off the tree in southern Switzerland as a young teenager have never been matched. I still have the aroma in my nose. Simply heavenly! I now live in the middle of peach country and have access to peaches still warm from the sun. The juice runs down to your elbow while eating them over the sink. They are too messy to eat anywhere else. Those peaches never make it to the store. Raspberries picked off the vine from my mother’s garden or sour apples fresh off the tree. My aunt used to bring boxes of apples from the Amish country. Just opening the box and smelling the apples was divine. As you can see, memories all involve fruit that was consumed within minutes of being picked ! I also believe most produce has been over-cultivated and hence has lost its original flavor and aroma over the years. Possibly age or my affinity for spicy food have dulled my sense of taste. Nevertheless, those childhood memories will stay with me forever.

I live in the UK and vacation in France most Summers.  I love visiting the farmers markets which are full of local cheeses, charcuterie and vegetables.  They have the most incredible beefsteak tomatoes; really sweet and full of flavour.  And the most intense basil.  Most days I'll have a simple salad of tamatoes, basil, salt, pepper and olive oil, with some fresh baguette. Yum!