Comfort Foods

I tried a new recipe today - BRAISED BRISKET WITH CARROTS, GARLIC, AND PARSNIPS - and the intro paragraph said it was a Comfort Food.

(I love this blog intro - it looks like something out of "Julie and Julia" or some sort of fancy cooking blog!)

The roast is delicious!!  The recipe is easy, the food is good (especially if you add some homemade mashed potatoes!), and your family/friends will be wowed with the amazing meal you prepared!  Try it!!


I got to thinking about that.  What makes something a Comfort Food?  According to Wikipedia, a Comfort Food is:

"Foods consumed to achieve some level of improved emotional status, whether to relieve negative psychological affect or to increase positive. More generally, comfort food can be defined as food that brings some form or measure of comfort, sense of well-being, or easy satisfaction. Such food choices may consist of the simple and familiar. Dishes may be warm and filling such as a dish made with a staple food, or basically pleasing such as sweets or desserts. Some definitions suggest that home-prepared dishes are most typical, or consumed in informal restaurants, but according to Wansink and Sangerman, Americans tend to select prepared foods and fast food for comfort uses, with ice cream, potato chips and chocolate ranking near the top. However, the term is meaningful not as a list of particular items, which will vary considerably from individual to individual, as well as culturally and by situation and emotional trigger, but as a psychological category of behavior."

So I went back & re-read the intro paragraph of my recipe - the author grew up as the son of Eastern European Jewish immigrants - far different than my Western American Mormon Pioneers heritage!  But, I am always willing and interested to try new recipes - especially when they look this yummy!

The Wikipedia article went on to say:

"The identification of particular items as comfort food may be idiosyncratic, though patterns are detectable. In one study of American preferences, "males preferred warm, hearty, meal-related comfort foods (such as steak, casseroles, and soup), while females instead preferred comfort foods that were more snack related (such as chocolate and ice cream). In addition, younger people preferred more snack-related comfort foods compared to those over 55 years of age.""

and:

"One study divided college-students' comfort-food identifications into four categories (nostalgic foods, indulgence foods, convenience foods, and physical comfort foods) with a special emphasis on the deliberate selection of particular foods to modify mood or affect, and indications that the medical-therapeutic use of particular foods may ultimately be a matter of mood-alteration.^"

Hmmm - Nostalgic foods - sort of like eating Fig Newtons that my sweet Aunt Norma gave me when I was a kid because "they have real fruit in them, so they must be good for you!"  Or Corn Chowder that we make for Thanksgiving every year!

Or, Indulgence foods - like deciding I'm worth a stop at Dairy Queen for a Blizzard, or the See's Candy counter at the mall!

Um.... Convenience foods - that is easy - when my days are spent at school, I love to get a tuna fish sandwich and a bottle of chocolate milk, or when I'm heading to the grocery store, I always get a burger & fries before heading in to buy the food (thus significantly reducing how many "Oooohh! That looks good!" purchases!

And of course, Physical Comfort Foods - like hot soup and fresh bread when it is snowing or raining outside, or an Icee on a hot summer day!

Ah, food!!  What a challenge the Lord gave us!  To have something that we need to have every day, and tase so good - that can make us fat or healthy, annoyed or satisfied, and (darn it) something to limit ourselves with! 

So, what's your favorite Comfort Food?!