Ofukuro no aji (おふくろの味) literally means 'mother's taste' — the specific flavour of the food your mother made, which no restaurant can replicate and no recipe can capture. It is natsukashii in edible form: the warm ache of a flavour that takes you back to a kitchen, a table, a time. Everyone has an ofukuro no aji. It is one of the most universal forms of mono no aware.

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