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Mary Lou and I drove to Atlanta on Sunday to take my mother to her old church.  Roswell United Methodist Church became part of her new home when she moved to Atlanta some 14 years ago.   She no longer attends RUMC every week since giving up driving, but she still finds a way to attend other churches with friends that provide her transportation.

After church, we ate lunch at one of her favorite places, the Sandy Springs Diner, which is next door to Huntcliff Summit, the independent living facility where she lives.   The diner has an enormous menu, though we usually eat breakfast.  This week, however, a sandwich called the Chicken Cutlet Deluxe jumped out at me.

When I first moved to Donalsonville, just out of college, I discovered a walk-up eatery called the Dairy Barn.  They served a Chicken Cutlet sandwich that sustained me the year or so before Mary Lou and I married.   It was a fried round cutlet that exactly fit the bun.  The sandwich had lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise.  I probably had this chicken sandwich four times a week.

Alas, the sandwich in my memory was nothing like the sandwich that came to our table at the diner.  Sunday’s plate came with two long chicken patties that stuck out of each end of the bun.   The lettuce and tomato, the part that makes any sandwich in the south a “deluxe”, was on the side and I added my own mayo.

It was not better or worse, but rather just different.  I guess the sandwich in my memory from 50 years ago tasted the best, but I am not sure to be honest.

All of us have foods or dishes we remember from our past.  I remember the cathead biscuits, large enough to poke your finger into to hold the syrup.  They were simple to make, but we cannot find the exact recipe and our attempts to duplicate the homemade biscuits of my youth have fallen short.  Maybe my memory was tainted by owning Hardee’s restaurants for 35 years with their famous Rise ‘n Shine Biscuits.

I still can taste the hamburgers from Pauline’s City Cafe in Cottonwood and the Shamrock in Dothan.  Any Auburn student from the past can remember the ice cream from the Sani-Freeze and the grease laden pizza from Chanello’s.

I never could duplicate the small potatoes with white sauce that my great-grandmother and grandmother made, with sauce so rich you could eat it with a spoon.  My other grandmother made a custard dessert I still crave but have not tasted in decades.

I learned to eat sardines and oysters with my parents, and still miss my mother’s Swiss Steak with vegetables.

Along my journey, I have been introduced to a whole new world of culinary masterpieces.  I remember the introduction of tater tots, along with pop-tarts, microwave popcorn, and well, microwave anything.   What a change microwave food made in the American kitchen.

I expect Mary Lou and I use the delivery apps for a third of our meals.  There are so many restaurants to choose from in Auburn and the deliveries are usually prompt, leaving hot fresh food on our doorstep.

In my childhood, there was not even a convenience store, and all grocery stores were closed on Sunday.  If you did not plan ahead with your shopping, it was going to be leftovers for sure.

What was the favorite food from your youth?  Who cooked it?  Those memories are just as sweet and savory as the food itself from our past.