Dictionary

Ratatouille moment en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (General-American) audio

Etymology

From Ratatouille + moment. Coined in reference to a scene from the Pixar animated film Ratatouille (2007), in which the fictional food critic Anton Ego has a powerful emotional reaction when tasting ratatouille, a dish that evokes a nostalgic memory from his childhood.

Meanings

1. (figuratively, informal) A 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:
   • 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:

Forms

Relateds

flashback · madeleine · sensory recall · Proustian moment · nostalgia