I'm sure there is a big posh clever name for it, but that thing where you smell or eat something and it triggers such a strong memory

[GreyHare]

I had this yesterday so strongly, I was bored with my Rice Crispies so I randomly brought a box of Special K, and it instantly transported me back to my Nan's dining room table, she always had Special K as she was always on a diet, and grapefruit juice (frozen tube things that you diluted) served in Maille Mustard glasses, followed by toast with butter and Golden Shred Marmalade, So I brought some grapefruit juice (carton long life) and had that with my Special K this morning and it was fab and made me so nostalgic, I miss my Nan and Grandad very much they died over 20 and 30 years ago, but I felt very close to them all because of a crappy breakfast.

I find music tends to take me back to time and places far more than food/tastes but smells can really take me back too, like silage, slurry and cows and horses can transport me straight back to childhood.

Smells trigger huge memories for me.

I’m sure there’s a word.

A Proustian moment.

Google Madeleine de Proust. That's how I know it. Maybe something more English from another poster?

Olfactory memory Is when an odour reminds you of something.

Proustian moment, or a madeleine moment, as that is what the narrator eats in the present and is transported back to his childhood through the taste and memory.

I have never, ever got through that book without slipping into a coma despite about 100 attempts, but I do like the idea of the Madelaine moment.