What Food Comforts You, and What, Exactly, Is Comfort Food?

What Food Comforts You, and What, Exactly, Is Comfort Food?

“Comfort food” -- kind of like “authentic” or “indigenous” – is a term which, though perhaps poorly defined, is nonetheless in widespread usage.

I thought it might be fun to get some sense of what the phrase “comfort food” really means. So for the past six months or so, I’ve been writing a series for Newcity about comfort food. The series is called “Comfort Me.” Here’s my most recent one and two more:

• Tom Van Lente of Two: http://resto.newcity.com/2014/06/30/com ... t-and-bar/
• Nicole Pedersen of Found: http://resto.newcity.com/2014/05/13/com ... -of-found/
• Mary Nguyen Aregoni of Saigon Sisters: http://resto.newcity.com/2014/04/15/com ... n-sisters/

For each installment, I interview a Chicago chef and have him or her answer questions like, “How do you define comfort food?” and “What’s your personal comfort food.”

The answers to these questions are many times very personal, causing people to reflect on early childhood experiences that have elevated some foods to the level of being unusually comforting.

When I started the Newcity series, I began with a theory that comfort food would likely be food that’s high in fat and calories, soft and non-aggressively seasoned. The paradigm of comfort food, by this definition, would be macaroni and cheese (not a comfort food of mine, but I figured it was of many).

As it turns out, comfort food is quite predictably determined by culture (few Asians for instance, would likely list anything containing cheese as a comfort food -- possible, but unlikely), and there’s even a lot of variation among North Americans.

Though there may be some universals, but comfort food is almost by definition idiosyncratic; there’s a lot of variation in what people consider comfort food to be because everyone has had a different life.

When I think of comfort food, one food comes to mind: hamburger. When I’m in an airport, stressed by the security gauntlets, hassled by my fellow travelers, nervous about making connections, there’s only one thing I want: hamburger.

I’m not actually sure why this is, but when there’s tension in the air, I’ve found that the way to relieve that stress is to sink my teeth into a big burger. There’s something very involving about holding a meal in both hands, the warmth registering on hands and face, enjoying big mouthfuls of meat and tomatoes and catsup. It’s soft, non-aggressively seasoned, and goes down easy.



For me, the burger doesn’t have to be fancy. In Chicago airports, after passing through TSA and other checkpoints, I’m quite satisfied to settle into a Burger King hamburger, which outside of an airport I almost never eat – I even prefer it to the much better, tastier, more crafted meals at, say, Rick Bayless’ Tortas Frontera. I’ve flown out of the Cancun airport several times in the past few years, and while I’m waiting, before my connecting flight home, it’s always Johnny Rocket’s. It’s the only thing I want to eat.

For me, this simple meal comforting, which is why whenever I’m admitted to a cardiac ward, I make a point of ordering a burger: http://www.oakpark.com/Dining/Blogs/2-21-2011/Luther-Burger-in-a-Cardiac-Ward/.

If you’re so inclined, I’d be very interested to hear how you define comfort food and about your personal comfort food.

The two definitions I've heard are basically food that brings you comfort, and nostalgic food, often starchy, cheap easy-to-make food that probably is most appropriate during the fall and winter months. I use the term "comfort food" for the latter, as there really isn't food that brings me comfort. I'm more a "comfort drink" kind of guy in that respect. As for my comfort foods? The usual. Mac and cheese. Grilled cheese. For the Polish side, it's pierogi and golabki and stuff like that. For the Hungarian part, it's paprikash potatoes and creamed vegetables and goulash. Stews. Starches. Casseroles. All that.

ETA: Now that I think about it more, it really is mostly cold weather and convenience food. Other comfort foods that come to mind are stuffed kohlrabi, zurek (Polish sour soup/"white borscht"), navy bean soup, carbonnade, a Campbell's condensed soup based casserole, etc.

Binko wrote:there really isn't food that brings me comfort. I'm more a "comfort drink" kind of guy in that respect.

It was very surprising to me that of the six chefs I've spoken with, not one has mentioned alcohol as a comfort "food." Perhaps they don't drink...

Binko wrote:ETA: Now that I think about it more, it really is mostly cold weather and convenience food. Other comfort foods that come to mind are stuffed kohlrabi, zurek (Polish sour soup/"white borscht"), navy bean soup, carbonnade, a Campbell's condensed soup based casserole, etc.

There does seem to be a connection between comfort food and cold weather, at least for those of us in the North.

Cheeseburgers, pasta dishes, and hearty stews in winter. Also homey type desserts such as brownies, bread pudding, crisps, etc.

toria wrote:Cheeseburgers, pasta dishes, and hearty stews in winter. Also homey type desserts such as brownies, bread pudding, crisps, etc.

Erick Williams at County BBQ mentioned stews, too, and there is something very relaxing and warming about a big bowl of steaming meat and vegetables. Oddly, I never had stew like that as a kid. Although comfort food does have a nostalgic dimension, I think that comfort food can come to be at any stage of life...at least I hope so.

Eggs, especially omelets, frittata, matzo brei, skillets, egg sandwiches...

Comfort foods for me are those dishes I desire "when I want my Mom". There's nothing fancy, but it's oh so good on occasion to tuck into a big pot of chili on the stove, a Sunday morning after Mass "what's in the fridge" skillet etc. hits that sweet spot.

When I was young, and wasn't feeling well, my Mom would make milk toast - a heavily buttered piece of toast, cut into small (i.e. 3/4" x 3/4") pieces, served in a bowl with warm milk. I almost wish I could get sick now, just to have some.

No, on further reflection, I'd prefer not to get sick.

nr706 wrote:When I was young, and wasn't feeling well, my Mom would make milk toast - a heavily buttered piece of toast, cut into small (i.e. 3/4" x 3/4") pieces, served in a bowl with warm milk. I almost wish I could get sick now, just to have some.

Only heard of it; never had it. Maybe I'll try it if I get hit with the flu this year. I have a feeling, though, that this is another one of those dishes that may require a mother's touch.

David Hammond wrote:

Binko wrote:there really isn't food that brings me comfort. I'm more a "comfort drink" kind of guy in that respect.

It was very surprising to me that of the six chefs I've spoken with, not one has mentioned alcohol as a comfort "food." Perhaps they don't drink...

My comfort drink, were that such a thing (I was being a bit facetious, of course), would probably be a nice peaty scotch, like Ardbeg. Or perhaps an old timey Tom and Jerry or a hot toddy. When I was a kid, my mom had this Old World Polish remedy for colds which consisted of hot beer (usually Old Style at our house back in the day), sugar, and eggs. I always thought it a bit odd, but now looking back at it, it was not unlike a beer-based version of a Tom and Jerry. Or you could call it Polish Nyquil. As a ten-year-old, a mug of that knocked me on my ass and had me sleeping lickety split. Also, and it's been probably well over a decade since I've had it, either hot tea with milk and sugar or Inka (a Polish coffee substitute made with various grains, chickory, and sugar beets) with milk and sugar.

Now that I reflect upon it a bit more, perhaps I'm dismissing the psychological comfort angle of comfort food a bit too hastily. The nostalgia angle of comfort food does bring with it the emotional connection, as in that scene from Ratatouille where a bite of the ratatouille takes the food critic back to his childhood and all the emotional connections with that. So comfort food, for me, usually does have an element of taking me back to a time and place where I felt all was well with the world. It doesn't have to be connected with childhood specifically (for example, see my Hungary examples of comfort food where those connections were made when I was in my 20s). If I had to summarize, at this point (because I'm sure on either further reflection I'm going to refine this), it's food that warms the belly and the soul, usually food that is relatively easy to prepare (as in, regularly made by home cooks, sometimes exclusively so as in the case of those semi-homemade type casseroles), unfussy, and filling.

Red chile burro, enchilada style, and a green corn tamal.

You have your comfort food, I have mine.

Hot buttered popcorn out of the same bowl we have used for fifty years.

I consider any type of meat with potatoes and gravy, my version of comfort food. It can be stew or pot pie, in cooler weather, or pan fried pork chops with mashed taters and gravy anytime.

The gravy has to be made from the meat you are eating and it's made with just flour & water, and salt & pepper. Don't be putting red wine or mushrooms or vegetable stock in my comfort food gravy.

I think comfort food to me is anything that reminds me of growing up on a farm with a large family. Meals were always meat/potato/vegetable. You always ate at the table, together, at the same time. Table etiquette was taught/expected and mom & dad led by example.

I think this is why I don't get any great pleasure from eating at a high end resturant. I don't want my radishes cut into roses or my meat soaked in some kind of swill, that makes it hard to tell what beast it came from. Good food, salt, pepper and basic herbs, all served on one plate. Ahhhhhhhhhhh...........

Tim

Burritos. There I said it. I know they're not in favor with this population, but ever since post-concert-at-the-Metro munchies in high school, this is my go-to crave. What I scoop up on my way home from the airport for sure.

Fried bologna on white bread, buffalo wings, American-Chinese takeout, Swedish meatballs on buttered noodles, frozen Bohemian bread dumplings.

You have to have a ton of at least one of these three - Carbs, protein, or cheese.

For me it's carbs and savory over sweet. I love a good steak but it's just not the same without the baked potato or the home fries, a burrito needs the tortilla, meatloaf needs the mashed potatoes etc.
Any kind of pasta also qualifies and if it has a protein in it, so much the better.
Brownies and cookies can qualify as well because they're also carb bombs and for some reason a big bag of chips and dip always makes me happy.

Interesting topic. For some reason, when I'm not feeling great or otherwise feel the need for "comforting" food, I crave Mac & Cheese (regular old Kraft with some real cheese--need not be anything fancy--melted in). Never had it as a kid so no idea why. Now when I think of "comfort" food, that makes me think spaghetti & meatballs, steak & baked or stuffed potatoes, meatloaf, chicken piccata--the 50s housewife food my mom made growing up. They do mean different things to me though.

I identify strongly with the nostalgia aspect rather than any particular type of food (starchy, high fat, winter stew, that kind of thing). As D.G. said, it's what I want when I want my mom --- or my dad, or both. Campbell's bean with bacon soup with saltine crackers crumbled in is at the top of my comfort food list, followed closely by Campbell's tomato soup with a cheese sandwich. A fried egg sandwich. Taylor's chili.

Comfort food is any food that reminds me of the good parts of being a kid. I have a memory of eating these noodles in our old house on a cool day, with my mom working in the kitchen and the smell of fresh laundry blowing in the window. This is probably a composite memory, not 100% accurate to any one event but the comfort is still the same.

Taiwanese sesame noodles with meat sauce.

For the sauce: Saute ground pork with ginger, garlic, scallions, shallots and chopped shiitakes until very fragrant. Add soy sauce to cover the meat, a bit of water, a dash xiaoxing wine and a pinch of sugar. Add a few peeled eggs and Chinese meatballs (the vac-pack variety). Simmer about 30 min or until until slightly reduced.

For the noodles: Boil flat Chinese noodles until just done. Use 4 parts of boiling water to dissolve 1 part sesame paste. Stir some meat sauce into the sesame mixture, then toss to combine with the noodles. Serve with a couple meatballs and eggs that cooked in the sauce, and garnish with chili sesame oil and fresh scallions.

Very interesting topic.

For me, comfort food first of all is very familiar food. It's food I go back to again and again when I am feeling low mentally or physically. Naturally, comfort food often comes from my childhood. A sort of chicken fricassee my mother used to make with Open Pit BBQ sauce (don't judge) with wide egg noodles is something I still will make if I'm down but still willing to cook. This was not known as a fricassee but as "barbecued chicken" when I was growing up. We knew what "real" barbecue was (at least grilling), but that's what we called it at home. If I'm a bit unwell, overwhelmed, or tired, I will almost always want--and be comforted by--decent take-out Chinese. Comfort food is a form of therapy, I seem to be saying.

My Mom's meatloaf, stinking of Heinz Ketchup but oh so good. the only time she took off her wedding ring to mix it up.

I'm kind of a pig, so I have lotsa comfort foods. Some remind of the first time I "got" a particular food, and some have nostalgic value:

Eggs Benedict:
Mom used to make this once in a great while for a weekend bfast. I instantly knew this was good food. I learned hollandaise on my own when I was about 10. I had to. I needed to.

Pancakes, of course.

Waffle stations at a brunch buffet. For you Oak Parkers out there - WAAAY back when JB Winberie's (the proper name, and yes, it will always be "Comiskey" to me,) first opened up on OP and Lake, my parents made the mistake of taking me to the Sunday Brunch. I had never seen anything like it, and while I sat down with a plate of sausage and fruit, my sister came to the table a good 5 minutes later with a WAFFLE. "THEY HAVE SOME GUY MAKING WAFFLES IF YOU ASK HIM FOR ONE!" WHAAAAAT????? WHAAAAATT??? My sister and I became closer that day. Every brunch buffet waffle maker is secretly judged from that first experience at JB Winberie's. It's not even feasible for me to skip the waffle station at a brunch buffet. Waffles made to order with unlimited whipped butter, and warm syrup are all the proof I need that God exists.

Sorry, but again with waffles. "Aunt Ritchie's Waffles." Aunt Ritchie had a boat that we'd go salmon fishing out of Benton Harbor on. The fisherman's breakfast at Aunt Ritchie's house was a whole, homemade waffle. I'm pretty sure she hated making us waffles, because it was a complete mess, but she knew what we wanted, and if she mentioned waffles for breakfast, we were complete angels the entire day before.

Chitlins:
When grandma came to stay for a few weeks, me and dad knew we were getting chitlins at some point. Most of the family were not fans, but me and dad loved them (what's not to love???) We also knew that we were having collards and true southern cornbread (NOT SWEET!!!!!) several times when she stayed. Mom and Grandma could make a double batch of cornbread before any of you could look up what temp to preheat the oven to. Impossibly light and tender, and NOT SWEET! I haven't had decent cornbread in 20 years. But anyway, chitlins meant the whole family was coming over for dinner, which also meant the whole family would watch in horror as me, Grandma, Uncle Tommy, and dad would scarf down helping after helping of wrinkles with "Leezhiana" hot sauce. I haven't had chitlins in AGES!!!

Pecans and Candy Canes:
The quintessential Christmas snack in our household. Grandma had a house in Mississippi with a pecan tree. She'd bring a suitcase FULL of pecans for xmas. The bowl on the coffee table was ALWAYS full of pecans during the holidays, and we'd each have our own candy cane log. The candy cane log was like a foot long peppermint stick, probably 3/4 of an inch in diameter. After dinner was all cleaned up, we'd settle in around the coffee table to either play gin rummy, or watch tv while cracking pecans BY HAND (never with a nutcracker.) Once you work the nut out, you toss it in your mouth, then take a bite of your candy cane, and chew them up together. At the end of the session, you wrap your candy cane up, and put it back in your special spot. As I think back on this, it was kinda weird, but I swear, the whole family was in on this. We each had our own spot to stash our candy cane at the end of the night, and everyone would pretty much go get their candy cane at the same time, and just crack nuts, bite the cane, and chill out for an hour or two.

Sushi:
That rare occasion when you get perfectly seasoned rice, and a decent piece of hamachi nigiri with the proper temperatures? That will ALWAYS remind me of the first time I "got" sushi, and the light sparked "on" in my head, and mouth at the same time. That takes me back. Way back.

Here's an odd one for me -
Chile con queso.
My parents were part of a "gourmet food club." That meant that once a month, they'd host a few of the neighborhood parents and they'd all get drunk and eat. When it was my parents' turn to host, I don't know what they would make for the main meal, but I do know that after the meal, in the wee hours, they would break out the fondue pot, the velveeta, and some form of pico de gallo. While my parents were sleeping off the booze, sis and I would be gorging on leftover chile con queso and chips for breakfast during the Saturday am 90 minute Looney Tunes show. THAT was living! I still sit on the couch once or twice a year with a great big bowl of melted velveeta with salsa mixed in, and a bag of chips for a Sunday football marathon. Still tastes the exact same. Still makes me think of "Gourmet Food Club" night, and wondering what we would scavenge in the morning while trying to fall asleep to a bunch of drunk grown-ups laughing and shushing each other.

Sloppy Joes! Come on! Sloppy Joes!!! Who in their right mind didn't love sloppy joe night?

Sardines with vinegar, sliced onions, and hot sauce on saltines. Another grandma thang. She got me HOOKED on this. When she stayed with us, THIS was the afternoon snack when I got home from school. No wonder I just eat anything and everything anytime of day. We'd also normally wash these down with a hot cup of peppermint tea with sugar.

I could probably bore you with plenty more examples, but the boy just found my stash of Strawberry Shortcake Good Humors, and God help him if that was the last one...

Seebee, that idea that comfort food is linked to the first time you "got" a food is really interesting. It's kind of unrelated to whether you were sick or not, or whether your mom made it for you or not; it has more to do with first insights and experiences with a specific food that maybe you were indifferent to before. I very distinctly remember the first time I "got" lamb chops in my grandmother's kitchen. We'd had them before at my parent's house, but somehow those chops at my grandmother's were so plump and bloody and good that I do not think I've ever had a lamb chop when I haven't mentally flipped back to those. I'm not sure I liked them so much because my granny made them (though that could have been part of it) but because they were so good, and because at that point I realized I liked lamb.

There is an interesting connection between comfort food and "food that is bad for you." (Of course I recognize that all foods are OK in moderation, blah blah blah; nevertheless, there are foods that have a tendency to make us unhealthier and foods that have a tendency to make us healthier, and the foods that most people consider comfort foods are in the former group.) So, why is it human nature to be comforted by foods that should, rationally, make us highly uncomfortable? (After all, since most people fear death, nothing should unnerve people more than eating something that will bring death closer.) My only answer is that by eating comfort foods, we feel we are laughing at death, cheating death, daring death to take us, and being brave is more comforting than being afraid.

riddlemay wrote:There is an interesting connection between comfort food and "food that is bad for you." (Of course I recognize that all foods are OK in moderation, blah blah blah; nevertheless, there are foods that have a tendency to make us unhealthier and foods that have a tendency to make us healthier, and the foods that most people consider comfort foods are in the former group.) So, why is it human nature to be comforted by foods that should, rationally, make us highly uncomfortable? (After all, since most people fear death, nothing should unnerve people more than eating something that will bring death closer.) My only answer is that by eating comfort foods, we feel we are laughing at death, cheating death, daring death to take us, and being brave is more comforting than being afraid.

I don't think the answer is that philosophical. Food that's "bad" for us isn't really bad from the perspective of a savannah dwelling hunter-gatherer or a sustenance farmer, which is what we all were for most of our history. A big meal of meat, fat, salt, sugar and starch would represent a huge survival-enhancing windfall because these nutrients are so rare in the wild. Our tastes are shaped by our calorie-scarce past, which is what causes unhealthiness in our resource-rich society.

eating while walking wrote:I don't think the answer is that philosophical. Food that's "bad" for us isn't really bad from the perspective of a savannah dwelling hunter-gatherer or a sustenance farmer, which is what we all were for most of our history. A big meal of meat, fat, salt, sugar and starch would represent a huge survival-enhancing windfall because these nutrients are so rare in the wild. Our tastes are shaped by our calorie-scarce past, which is what causes unhealthiness in our resource-rich society.

That's what I was going to posit. If there's an evolutionary reason for preferring it, it's because the food is filling and energy-dense (caloric), which would be a good thing back i the day before there were calorie-rich dollar menus.

In addition, human babies are innately averse to bitterness in foods (presumably an evolutionary protection against poisons), which is what makes it hard to get little kids to eat many kinds of vegetables. As Binko pointed out, it's not hard to see the evolutionary value of favoring high-calorie fats, sweets, and starches.

Wow. What an interesting topic. A few dishes come to mind:

1. mac and cheese (and yes, Kraft out of the box works for me)
2. braised beef short ribs
3. stuffed porkchops
4. fried ring bologna and fried potatoes. growing up, my mother only made this with sliced white potatoes that came out of a can. Right out of the can they tasted awful, but she would fry them in butter and season with dried parsley (probably years old) and garlic salt which made them seem delightful to me. Of course i haven't had those in years so it would be interesting to make the dish now and see if it's as appealing.
5. thanksgiving dinner growing up (white bread stuffing, mashed potatoes, homemade gravy, turkey, yams out of the can with mini marshmallows, cranberry out of the can)
6. chocolate cake

For me, comfort food is about feeling satiated, heavy, and grounded. It's kind of like wrapping a warm blanket around myself.

To the person who mentioned eating heavily buttered toast with warm milk, my dad used to do that too. I never got into it myself, but that was often a late night snack for him. My mom's favorite comfort food consisted of peanut butter and Miracle Whip on Butternut white bread. I could never get into that but she loved it.

Katie wrote:In addition, human babies are innately averse to bitterness in foods (presumably an evolutionary protection against poisons), which is what makes it hard to get little kids to eat many kinds of vegetables. As Binko pointed out, it's not hard to see the evolutionary value of favoring high-calorie fats, sweets, and starches.

I understand that, from an evolutionary perspective, people are attracted to sweetness, but some of the aversion to bitterness may be cultural. In parts of Asia, for instance, bitterness is not a flavor to be avoided; it's just another flavor. In our part of the world, when we say something is bitter, we're evaluating (i.e., it's a bad flavor); in other parts of the world, when we say something is bitter, we're just describing.

I'm just going by what I've heard and read, but my impression is that developing a liking for bitter foods is cultural. Innate aversion to bitterness in newborns is not. If you research it and find out otherwise, I'd be interested to know.

Edited to add: The editor in me thinks I should change "innate aversion to bitterness in newborns" ( ) to "innate aversion of newborns to bitterness."