This Is The First Thing Bobby Flay Remembers Cooking

Every chef has their Proust madeleine moment — that epiphany when food transcends. Per Fine Dining Lovers, Proust's food moment famously occurred when he dipped a madeleine into a cup of tea and wrote, "No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me." Bobby Flay, the decorated celebrity chef who is always helping us navigate the challenges of grilling meat properly and making the perfect vinaigrette using grilled citrus, is no different. 

Flay may have the most Iron Chef titles. He may hold plenty of culinary and television awards and accolades from the likes of the James Beard Foundation and the Emmys. The cookbook author may even have voiced himself in an animated version of Scooby-Doo! along with his gal pal Giada De Laurentiis, but he is just like everyone else when it comes to experiencing that first defining moment where food became more than just food. Flay's occurred when he was relatively young. He dished with First We Feast about the first thing he remembers cooking, and it is so sweet and relatable you might be calling home to your own mom.

Flay's memories of the first thing he ever cooked involve his mom and a package of everyone's favorite childhood treat: pudding. Flay told First We Feast, "My-T-Fine Chocolate Pudding was the first thing I remember cooking, standing on a stool with my mother near the stove." Such an aww moment. Flay went on to describe the pudding, saying, "It's basically chocolate powder with scalded milk, and you have a wooden spoon and you're just stirring it and stirring it until it starts to get thick. And I just remember that moment of thinking to myself like, oh my goodness, if you stir something, the texture will change."

Flay revealed that this nostalgic moment is one that he can remember quite well, offering, "It was my first foray into food texture, and so I remember it was like yesterday. [I ate] tons of it. It used to drive me crazy, because I would put it in the refrigerator and then it would get this skin on it. I used to hate the chocolate-pudding skin, so I'd have to pull it back and eat the pudding itself. To this day, I love the texture of puddings. If there's one on the dessert menu, I always order it."