People from Watford have helped to identify the 40 top “culinary triggers” that take them right back to childhood.

Vue Entertainment conducted nationwide research of 1,500 adults to discover which foods remind them of their childhood years – and four out of five respondents from Watford said they feel nostalgic “just thinking” about certain meals or treats.

For 34 per cent, “mum’s roast dinner” ranked at the top.

In people’s top five, rice pudding, boiled eggs and soldiers, fish fingers, and arctic roll followed shortly after – with choc ices, orange squash and cola cubes also emerging within the list of memory triggers.

According to the poll, the smell and taste of certain foods made 52 per cent of people from Watford “happy”, 45 per cent said food which reminded them of their childhood made them feel “comforted” - and 23 per cent said they felt “cosy” when they smelt or tasted any of these foods.

The biggest nostalgia trigger was bread and pudding. Classic Coke Float (coke topped with Avalanche ice cream available at Watford Vue) and beans on toast also polled well.

As many as 79 per cent of those surveyed said they actually “pine” for the food they ate as a child or teenager.

Asa Brennan, general manager at Vue Watford, said: “This research proves how much food takes us back to the past.

“We’re delighted to give people the chance to travel back into their memories by enjoying a Coke float while they enjoy the best in big screen entertainment this January.”

Britain’s Top 40 “culinary triggers”

1. Mum’s roast dinner

2. Rice pudding

3. Egg and soldiers

4. Fish fingers

5. Arctic roll

6. Mr Whippy ice cream

7. Sherbet

8. Custard

9. Trifle

10. Cola cubes

11. Beans on toast

12. Jam roly-poly

13. Viennetta

14. Choc ices

15. Findus Crispy pancakes

16. Candy Floss

17. Toffee apples

18. Bread and butter pudding

19. Tinned peaches

20. Battenberg

21. Party Rings

22. Liquorice sticks

23. Fig rolls

24. Toasted sandwiches

25. Spotted Dick

26. Spaghetti hoops

27. Eggy bread

28. Iced buns

29. Alphabetti Spaghetti

30. Potato Waffles

31. Orange squash

32. Chocolate mousse

33. Coke float

34. Mint choc chip ice cream

35. Macaroni cheese

36. Potato faces

37. Chicken Kiev

38. French bread pizza

39. Popcorn

40. Turkey dinosaurs