Tapping Into Food Nostalgia
How to make is just like mum used to and create an emotional connection with your customers.
Do you ever detect an appetising smell that instantly transports your mind to your parent’s kitchen? Or a taste that makes you feel 10 years old again? Food and our consumption of it have come a long way from being a tool of survival – eating delicious food and reminiscing on the past is a phenomenon known as food nostalgia and it’s something that everyone in foodservice should be aware of and utilise.
What food nostalgia means
Nostalgia is something intangible that affects how you view the current world based on your past. Nostalgia often feels like a yearning or wistful attachment to the past, and that the past was somewhat rosier than the present. Creating food that acts as nostalgia goggles for your customers and allows them to leave inhibition behind and relive the good-ole days is the core of food nostalgia.
There’s been lots of research conducted around how nostalgia can help businesses connect with customers’ emotions. The University of Southampton conducted research that found that nostalgia can be good for conjuring up positive emotions. In food, this can be incredibly powerful and nostalgia can be used to associate positive feelings with certain ingredients and flavours.
The reason food nostalgia is so effective is because of something called food memories and the way that brains interpret memory. According to Susan Whitborne, a psychology professor at the University of Massachusetts, unlike a typical memory, food memories engage all five senses when reliving them. “Food memories are more sensory than other memories in that they involve really all five senses, so when you’re that thoroughly engaged with the stimulus it has a more powerful effect,” Whitborne explains.
“Food memories feel so nostalgic because there’s all this context of when you were preparing or eating this food, so the food becomes almost symbolic of other meaning,” Whitbourne says. “A lot of our memories as children, it’s not so much the apple pie, for example, but the whole experience of being a family, being nourished, and that acquires a lot of symbolism apart from the sensory quality.”
So, the taste of soft serve and beef sausages could be the taste of your childhood Summers, and your first date as a teen might smell like a strawberry milkshake.
How nostalgia marketing works
When it comes to tapping into nostalgia for your business, you could do research into what was popular in the past, but many chefs and restauranteurs find it more powerful to draw on their own life and how nostalgia affects them.
Food nostalgia can be particularly effective for your business in making you stand out from eateries that might be constantly chasing the latest trends – food nostalgia focuses on things we already know are great. Nailing comfort food and making eating an emotive experience for your diners can make a lasting impression, and nostalgia has been shown to resonate particularly with millennials which could help you create a buzz on social media for your brand. Offering a dish or dished that provide comfort may also create a loyal customer base during a time of uncertainty such as a worldwide pandemic.
It’s crucial to think about the goal of food nostalgia to transport diners back to a simpler place where they can escape current problems and worries. That’s why food that was regarded fondly in childhood seems to be a big winner for positive nostalgia.
