Jim Bazin: I’ll pick Arepas (ah-ray-pas). What’s that, you say? It’s a cornmeal patty (much like an English muffin, but made with corn). My father was born in Caracas, Venezuela and immigrated to the U.S. with his family at a very young age. Thankfully, he maintained his taste for some of his native foods, and I was fortunate to be exposed to arepas at an early age. They are one of those foods that you can enjoy so many ways (warm and slathered with butter, or as the basis for myriad sandwiches that can be stuffed with cheese-vegetables-meats). What I truly miss the most is the taste of a warm and heavily-buttered arepas in the morning, with a fresh cup of coffee or tea. If you get to try arepas, I’ll bet you can’t eat just one.

Sean Chung: I ate naeng myeon just about every week when I lived in Seoul. This popular North Korean noodle dish is  served cold, a braid of thin buckwheat noodles in a long simmered  beef broth filled with crushed ice or ice cubes that comes topped with slices of mild radish kimchi, tender beef brisket, slices of sweet Asian pear and half a hard-boiled egg. I like to intensify the mild flavors with the vinegar and hot mustard that usually accompany it. To me, it’s the perfect food poem to summer.

Katherine Emory: Anything fried! My roots are Southern, need I say more?

Melanie Hyatt: I miss my grandmother’s homemade root beer, her homemade chocolate ice cream, my Mom’s homemade french fries, and all the things my dad used to grow in the garden. I guess it’s the people, times, and  memories I miss more than the foods, come to think of it.

Merrill Williams: French bistro fare. As a student in Paris in the sixties, I could only afford a sandwich for lunch so I’d seek out the most modest sidewalk café in the quartier. My favorite choice was the ubiquitous “sandwich jambon au beurre,” a fresh baguette smeared with European butter and stuffed with sliced ham. The other day, I ventured into the Pastry Garden in Rockland, and ohmigod, there it was on the menu: jambon au beurre. I pounced, and savored every fatty bite. The only thing missing? Une biere blonde to go with mon sandwich.

Random thoughts from the staff at Maine Food & Lifestyle magazine.