'These are the food memories that make me'

THIS WEEK'S COLUMNIST - Novelist Jo Thomas

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"A Findus Crispy Pancake, a golden turkey, melon drenched in port - it's funny how food memories can transport us to a time and place. For good or for bad, one bite can take us back to a particular moment, bringing with it everything we felt at that time.

Findus pancakes were part of my childhood. With both parents at work, this was food we could forage from the freezer on our own. Christmas dinners were always special, though, with a big turkey. Even when my dad was in the later stages of motor neurone disease, I remember the joy of being together around the Christmas table. Apart from the year my mother got fancy and drenched a perfectly good, much-anticipated melon in port, making it inedible. Oh, the frustration! The stolen joy of that simple, sweet melon.