The Stuff of Memory

Memories are funny things. A particular memory doesn’t reside in a particular place in our brains, instead it exists as a collection of connections spread through our cortexes. The more a memory is used the less grounded it becomes in the context that gave rise to it and the more it comes an abstraction existing on its own.

Sometimes this is brought home to us when we happen to access a memory through an indirect connection. For instance, I was driving home from the market the other day with, among other things, a sack of tomatoes that had been sitting out in the sun. Because of this my car was filled with the scent of ripe tomatoes. The radio was on and the station played an old Beatles song — “All My Loving.” In a moment I was 11 years old, sitting at the kitchen table with my brothers and sister, and eating a stuffed tomato.

You’ve likely had that same near-out-of-body experience as though the past is overlaid on the present. Your very body feels odd — as though it doesn’t quite fit.

It was a brief flash, but it left me hungry for a stuffed tomato such as I last ate when I was about that age. What I remembered most distinctly about that tomato was the taste of tomato, tuna, saltine crackers, and dill pickle. But I certainly couldn’t leave even that rudimentary recipe alone…

Stuffed Tomatoes

4 ea lg tomatoes — 3″ diameter
1 ea 6oz can tuna
8 ea saltine crackers — crushed
1/4 c sliced scallions — sliced into 1/8″ rounds
1/4 c diced green pepper
2 tbsp capers
1/4 c crumbled feta cheese
2 tbsp feta brine
1/2 lemon — juiced
1/4 c mayonnaise
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Remove tomato tops and dice. Remove pulp from tomatoes, discard seeds, and dice flesh.

Mix diced tomato and all other ingredients in a bowl and allow flavors to meld for at least an hour.

Salt interiors of tomatoes and stuff with tuna mixture.

Note: I strongly recommend tuna packed in olive oil instead of water. It tastes far better.

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