Quick ... what’s your Guilty Pleasure Food? No, not the 1/4-Pounder with Cheese you promised to give up for the new year and succumbed to by mid-January.

I mean the one thing - maybe dating back to your childhood - that renders you just about helpless and hopeless, both emotionally and gastronomically. Mine were cherry ice cream sodas at Addie Vallins, in Forest Hills, New York - chunks of cherries, REAL whipped cream: a thick, gooey delight. I had them at least twice a week on my way home from high school (luckily a long walk, considering the calorie and fat content!).

But then, I come from generations of guilty pleasure foodies. My mom - normally a generous and loving woman - would change into a furtive sneak when presented with a box of Schrafft’s fudge. You northeast transplants remember Schrafft’s fudge: the first bite so achingly sweet that your teeth would almost recoil in sugary pain. Mom would give us each ONE piece, and then the box would disappear to some secret hiding place, to reappear only when it was empty and ready to go out in the trash. Oh, how we longed to know where she kept the stash, but we never did find out.

My grandmother - in every other respect a person who would give you her last dime - was in her 80's and still telling us how - during each of her three pregnancies - she craved fresh cherries so much that she would hide in an alleyway and eat them, so she wouldn’t see anyone she knew and have to share. That passion stayed with her the rest of her life!

Researchers say we eat not only to quell a rumbling stomach, but to nourish the soul. That’s certainly the case with me, and I’m sure I’m not alone. What’s YOUR Guilty Pleasure Food? Was it a homemade treat or something purchased at the store? When is the last time you had it?

Come on now .... it’s time to ‘fess up ... we’re all waiting! E-mail me at tcfoodie@yahoo.com.