Comfort food

[kayb]

Potato salad. Specifically, my potato salad, still warm from cooking the potatos, with a dressing of mayo,mustard,ketchup,pickles, salt.pepper.garlic and paprika. It's what I love to make for myself when I'm tired or it's been a rough day.

[JAZ]

To me, comfort food should almost by definition be high in those two items that the pre-agricultural Homo sapiens craved (and still do): salt and fat. It's comforting because there's a hardwired reaction to those things in your mouth that signals a chance at survival. . .

While I think those elements are probably there, it seems from what people list as comfort food that starch is a common base -- noodles, potatoes, rice and beans show up frequently.

Mostly, though, I think "comfort food" is whatever one grew up eating. I don't expect (for instance) Thai, British and Chilean people to list the same comfort foods, because they probably don't have the same food memories.

[Lilija]

For me it's not really about what I grew up on, the food I grew up with was mainly prepared foods and TV dinners. I don't know where mine came from, really. Stews, soups, pasta dishes are all comforting, to a degree, but when I think of the term comfort food, I think of what I reach for during difficult times. Maybe they're good times foods, or something, for me, foods that speak of good memories, nourishing to my soul as well as body.

[divalasvegas]

So all of the above and more.

Has anyone noticed that most of our shared comfort foods are all--at least 90%--warm or hot?

While I like salads, chilled soups, sandwiches, fresh fruit, etc., all of my comfort foods are either warm or hot. Hot/warm homemade mac and cheese, meatballs and spaghetti, fried chicken, hot and sour soup, pho or any asian style soup, etc. I wish I had the skills to make asian/asian style soups at home . Just made a whole pot full of pinto beans and smoked neck bones--so very good--and I'm about to make chicken vegetable soup from scratch; double yum!

Thanks for starting this thread chufi!

[Kat Tanaka Okopnik]

Mostly, though, I think "comfort food" is whatever one grew up eating. I don't expect (for instance) Thai, British and Chilean people to list the same comfort foods, because they probably don't have the same food memories.

That's mostly true for me. My comfort foods mainly come from deep in the heart of Japanese cooking - natto, egg over rice, ume kobucha, green tea, "mabo tofu" (in quotes, because it's certainly not like any Szechuan version!).

There's other stuff I get weird cravings for, but that list above is the canonical "I'm feeling lonely and homesick for the happy parts of my childhood".

An ex-boyfriend of mine had to have Campbell's tomato soup, made with milk, and "toast soldiers" whenever he was sick.

[azurite]

Scrambled eggs w/some milk or cream added, cooked/scrambled over low heat (takes around 20-25 minutes) on toast. Deborah Madison's quinoa,corn,spinach & feta soup; bagels, cream cheese & lox; hot cocoa; lentil soup w/tomato & some garlicky or spicy sausage; my mom's potato salad, her sweated cucumbers w/a sprinkling of hot Hungarian paprika; just picked ripe Italian prune plums eaten while still warm from the sun, slices of aged cheddar cheese plus slices of tart apples and green split pea soup (those 3 items as a meal).

[ElaineK]

Is there anyone that considers fruit or veg comfort food? Other than potatoes or cooked fruit desserts like apple pie, I can't think of any that are particularly comforting to me. At first I thought hot spinach dip, but really it's the creamy cheesy goodness that is comforting, not so much the spinach.

Fresh picked blackberries with milk and a sprinkle of sugar. That was our traditional post-blackberry-picking snack at Grandma's when I was a kid. Then she'd make the rest of the berries into pie. I liked the berry-soup better than the pie, and it will always remind me of her bright yellow kitchen.

[Darienne]

The first time I was ill after getting married, my DH made me a dish which means comfort and love to me after all these years: white rice, tomatoes and melted cheese on top. Yummm

[pax]

Grandma's Potato Pancakes, Aunt Elayne's Mint Brownies. Tomato soup with cheddar goldfish. Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and onion gravy. Eating Toll House cookie dough out of the bowl. Lime sherbert when I am sick.

All the stuff my Grandma and Aunts made.

[TongoRad]

This is one that never fails to take me back to my childhood, and I really should do it more often-

chicken cut up in pieces, roasted along with onions, potatoes and peas all in the same roasting pan, sprinkled with a bit of oregano and salt. The way the potatoes soak up the fat and juices from the chicken, man, that's the stuff...it's more than the sum of its parts, for sure.

[Lior]

toast with marmite or fish paste