Ratatouille moment

plural Ratatouille moments

1. figurativelyinformalA sudden, vivid emotional or sensory memory, typically triggered by a smell, taste, sound, or experience, that powerfully recalls a past time or feeling, often from childhood.

   Such attention to detail helped Deakes achieve his very own Ratatouille moment with a client at a corporate dining facility. He'd made her a butterbeer latte, as in the flavor from Harry Potter.

   2023 February 21, “Austin chef Gareth Deakes channels Ratatouille in the kitchen”, in Austin American-Statesman

   2 more examples

   I carry on waiting for dishes that snap me out of the food-writing fog. I like to say that these meals “make the room go quiet,” or gave me that Ratatouille moment. You know, when the mean critic takes a bite of Remy’s dish and is whooshed out of the present back to his happy childhood?

   2013 September 25, Lesley Suter, “Lesley Suter’s Ratatouille Moment”, in Bravo TV

   Her research is centered around what she describes as the "Ratatouille Moment," recalling the moment in the film when the food critic has an experience of food-related nostalgia that transports him back to his childhood.

   2024, “Food, Nostalgia, and the “Ratatouille Moment””, in Science on Screen