I Was Told There Would be Cake

Did you know that the London lounge at Heathrow airport has Hot Dog Fridays? Yes. IN a world where technology is king and things change as quickly as a sun sets, something are still old school. The London lounge is truly 2011. Fabulous chique Danish Design…. Cool interior with just enough kitsch. There is wi-fi and showers and two… count them two buffets. There are three cappuccino machines and yes, on Fridays…. It’s hot dog day.

There just past check in is a silver tray of old school hot dog buns and a chafing dish filled with hot dog wieners. A bottle of Ketsup and mustard and a line up of business men waiting foor a taste of nostalgia.

Make no mistake… I find them too dishonest. Hot dogs really are several unable meat scraps in disguise. Sure we at them as kids and yes they are reminiscent of ballgames and goodness, ut they are an exercise in fakery. I’m not a fan of fake- neither in my handbags nor in my food.

But when it comes to food and nostalgia there is no denying it- we all have something. Admit it dear girlfriends, I say birthday cake and boom you are back to your fifth birthday party… frilly dress, party hat, loot bags and a face full of white and pink frosting. Yes, I know- you put your whole face in the cake- who didn’t?

I love cake. Hell I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro on my 40th birthday and the highlight was NOT reaching the summit but in fact the guilt free cake that was served afterward (with champagne of course) Turns out that alcohol consumption above 15,000 feet above sea level is really fun. If you combing it with Diamox (a medication for altitude sickness) the buzz is tremendous. Between the booze, the sugar rush and the relative lack of oxygen at 19,000 feet above sea level…. Man wa I giddy. As for the cake…. It was freaking fabulous.

Turns out this kind of food sense memories so to sepak have a science behind them afterall.

We’ve long known that there is a link between the “pleasure centres” in the brain and certain foods. In fact certain anti-obesity medications have been targeted towards blocking this very system.

A study done in June 2005 by the Centre of Neuroimaging Sciences at the Institute of Psychiatry in London showed that eating ice cream “lights up” certain pleasure centres in the brain.

Participants in the study, commissioned by Unilever, had their brains scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging - fMRI - a non-invasive technique that allowed researchers to see which areas of the brain were activated when participants ate a particular brand of ice-cream.
The results showed that eating the ice-cream had an immediate effect on parts of the brain that previous research has shown were activated when someone is really enjoying themselves - the pleasure areas - which include a major processing area at the front of the brain, the orbitofrontal cortex

SO there you have it… we’re hard wired to have an emotional connection tocertain ffoods. Whether it is me and my white cake with white buttercream or Hans Von Sombody in business class choking down a dog on his layover in London.