Our Readers' Greatest Meals

In issue #132, we invited some of our favorite writers and cooks to share the greatest meals of their lives. We also asked our readers to send us memories of their fondest dining experiences. Here are some of their stories.

Credit: Beth Whittingham Goehring

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Beth Whittingham Goehring

I'd never traveled out of the country until I participated in my college's junior-year-abroad program at Oxford University. On my first night in London, my father and I stayed at the Savoy Hotel. After an evening at the Savoy Theatre, I ordered room service. Because I was new in England, I wanted to have a specialty. I decided on the kidneys as my entrée and strawberries for dessert. The waiter rolled the beautifully laid table into the room and lifted the silver dome from the main dish. The smell and sight of those kidneys almost made me hop on the next plane back to the States. After the waiter left, I cut tentatively into one of the lobes, nibbled, and slammed the dome back down, settling in with the more familiar strawberries. Since then, I've traveled quite a bit, and my tastes have grown as I've sampled the exotic foods of many countries. As any parent knows, if you can just get a child to try the first bite, a lifetime of adventurous eating is in store!