On Comfort Food.

[randomness]

Christmas food--and boy, there was some yummy food on Christmas, thanks to various members of bedfull_o_books's family--got me to thinking about comfort food.

As anyone who has been around me much at all can confirm, I get wacky food cravings. Many times these cravings are for dishes I consider comfort food.

This led me to consider what those dishes are, and why they have that place for me.

I think many of my comfort foods are ones I've eaten for many years, like 干炒牛河 (gān chăo niú hé: a. k. a. beef chow fun), or macaroni and cheese. Meat loaf is another. So are 水饺 (shuǐjiǎo: boiled dumplings), with some fairly pedestrian filling like 猪肉白菜 (zhū ròu bái cài: pork with Chinese cabbage). Some dessert foods are also, like ice cream sandwiches, or a 蛋挞 (dàn tà: egg tart). Or 杏仁豆腐 (xìng rén dòu fu: almond jelly/almond tofu/almond junket) but the kind made with agar, not tofu or gelatin (despite the names).

Occasionally, though, the craving is for something I never ate as a child, but nonetheless still fills the comfort food niche, like Cincinnati chili or Saag (साग/ساگ). (bedfull_o_books also considers Saag a comfort food. Neither of us grew up with it.)

I suppose it's all about keeping my not-so-inner child fed. That kid likes fat, sweet, and salt, it seems, and searches for the uncomplicated, unchallenging tastes I grew up with.

What foods say "comfort food" to you? What about them makes them comfort food?

Comments

[quezz.livejournal.com]

I have an eclectic list, and I share items with you. These are not in order:

Cream of wheat with butter, maple syrup, and raisins or cranberries. I like cooked Wheatabix too.
Definitely 水饺, but 河南包子 (henan baozi) rank higher. You can't get them here, and it drives me crazy! They're spicy beef and they rock on so many levels.
Crawfish etouffee in brioche. It's a great way to serve the dish -- my mother made it for us at home, and I have always loved it.
地锅鸡 (di guo ji, earth pot chicken) is a local dish to Xuzhou in Jiangsu Province. It's stewed chicken and hot peppers in a big pot ringed with flat dumplings. I ate it when I was tired or feeling stressed, and I miss it now.
Brussel sprouts with garlic butter and a little salt and pepper.
French onion soup with big croutons.
Soft scrambled eggs with Cheddar cheese.
Pad see ew, the Thai version of chow fun.

As you can see, when I need comfort I tend to like spicy and/or soft things.

[donnad.livejournal.com]

Comfort foods for me are simple things like Hot Cocoa and PB on toast. Or Campbells Chicken noodle soup with saltine crackers. I think maybe they are comfort foods because it's what I used to get when I was sick when I was a kid. And they are very simple to make when one is feeling "off" and in need of comfort foods.

[redbird]

Tea is comfort, but I drink that so constantly I'm not sure it counts.

Things I didn't grow up with that count: roast duck congee (or other kinds will do, but I don't care for hundred-year-old eggs). Poutine. Oatmeal, especially cooked and eaten at home with cattitude or adrian_turtle. There seems to be a texture thing going on here.

And another I did grow up with: matzoh ball soup.

[tamidon.livejournal.com]

at home it's things like rice pudding or mac-n-cheese, but when I'm sick I usually get someone to get me either pad thai or hot-n-sour soup.

[dpolicar]

I tend to class it as "diner food" - meatloaf, stew, mac-and-cheese, that sort of thing. Cheese in general. I've developed a fondness for dried mango.

[denyse.livejournal.com]

Hm. Congee (esp preserved egg and pork if cantonese, or the hokkien sort with pork which I never see over here). Shuei Kuei. Hainanese Chicken rice. Cha Kuay Teow. Hokkien Mee. Preserved vege and duck soup. Cha Siew Pao. Ha Kao. Siew Mai. (I'm too lazy to find the chinese characters for all of this - I haven't installed the fonts on this computer). Roti Canai (or maybe Murtabak). Zong (the rice pyramid ones, either sweet or with meat). Really sweet mango.

I guess it's the food I grew up with after all.

[redbird]

If those zong are what I think they are, I hadn't filed them as comfort food, probably because I only get them as part of dim sum, and comfort food is often something I want when either alone or home sick.

[eclectician.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've ever seen Zong Zi as part of dim sum, though you do find them being sold in Chinese bakeries a lot.

[eclectician.livejournal.com]

Are you from Malaysia or Singapore? =)

[denyse.livejournal.com]

Singapore. :)

[gravitrue.livejournal.com]

pizza just like the pizza at my favorite hometown place.
sauerkraut pierogi with sauteed onions.
orange-pineapple juice. it took me years to figure out that this was hitting a memory of baby food.
hot open roast beef with gravy and fries.

Is there any decent local substitute for may-may brand frozen dimsum?

[julianyap.livejournal.com]

Mashed Potatoes is number 1 in my book. But definitely preserved egg and pork congee, and cha siew bao, and dan tat. And weirdly enough, Campbell's chicken alphabet soup. Grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup.

[eclectician.livejournal.com]

Been meaning to do this for a while - hi Julian!

[digitalemur.livejournal.com]

*sigh*

Now I want saag. And Cincinnati chili. I didn't grow up with those either.

Now pierogi I did grow up with, and Banquet chicken. Those are my when-I-feel-good-and-truly-miserable comfort foods!

[irielle.livejournal.com]

I didn't grow up with my favorite comfort foods either: chicken shahi korma, rogan josh and peshwari naan.

[dana325.livejournal.com]

my great aunt's noodle kugel ..I ate it nearly every sunday growing up.
matzoh ball soup
soups and stews in general really..I make a lot of them. Something about a pot of stew or soup that has been made from relatively simple ingredients and slow cooked all day feels really nourishing to me.

[eclectician.livejournal.com]

Congee, though this is a taste I've grown into. Hated porridge as a kid, but that's because I always got the thin teochew kind which you eat with side dishes, and I never liked the water-rice ratio. I like the cantonese sort, from Congee City on the Bowery.

Ramen. Proper Japanese stuff, not packets. Can't find it in Boston for love or money, makes me very sad.

Nothing else, really - I'm defining comfort food as stuff that qualifies for X in the sentence "Fuckit, today is so fired, I'm going out to get X."

[sea-bound.livejournal.com]

You probably know about the Porter Exchange, but you can get halfway decent ramen at one of the restaurants there. I don't remember the name but it's in the corridor of food stalls (across from the Korean place, if memory serves).

My mother will occasionally bring ramen with her from Japan. I'll set aside a packet for you the next time she does.

[eclectician.livejournal.com]

I do know about Porter Exchange. I actually think Wagamama has better ramen than that place.

Thanks for the offer!

[sea-bound.livejournal.com]

Hm. Both times I went to Wagamama I thought it was *terrible.* I'm not really sure what the hype is all about (although growing up on Japanese food makes me picky).

[eclectician.livejournal.com]

Not saying it's good, mind, just that it's better than Sapporo Ramen. =) Sapporo's broth is too much salt and too little flavour, Wagamama's is more flavour than salt. Sapporo does better noodles and more authentic toppings, though Wagamama's toppings are fine if inauthentic.

[sea-bound.livejournal.com]

So I'm thinking about this list and realizing how spoiled I was (am) as a child.

Comfort foods: mashed potatoes, risotto, oatmeal, osechi ryori, mutabbal, dill pickles, Japanese curry, unagi, corn chowder

Comfort foods that I specifically want from my parents: miso soup, dill shrimp, tuna salad, omochi (either with red bean paste or the way my mom makes it: smothered in soy sauce and honey then wrapped in nori)

Comfort foods that I request from my partners: PB&J (this would be included in the above category except for the fact that as a child, my dad was a stuck up bastard who told me that if I wanted him to make me a PB&J I had to eat it his way, which was with butter and crunchy PB, neither of which I liked when I was, oh, 6. He has since mellowed out a bit but I still don't trust him to make it the way I like it. :P)

Yum.

Most of these are reminders of my parents or of living in certain places (new england, Japan, middle east).

comfort foods

[bgoodman777.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that there are too many foods that I consider "comfort food." I find going out to a nice restaurant comforting. I simply find being able to order a nice meal and eat quietly (often by myself) comforting. It doesn't matter what the meal is, as long as it is good food. Even through grad school, I managed to continue frequenting my favorite restaurants.

When I'm sick I tend to like to have warm foods, like tea (with milk and sugar) or chicken and dumplings (like my mother used to make). And, well, chocolate is always comforting.

generally, childhood

[mryt-maat.livejournal.com]

When I was re-learning how to eat, tea took on an almost religious significance. I already really like tea, but when it was all I could keep down, I would literally well up with gratitude for it on my first sip.

When we were reintroducing solid food, my mother made orange roughy in the oven. I had forgotten about that. Turns out, I love it. Which is good because I could handle it.

In normal times, my comfort food is somewhat seasonal. Most comfort foods for me are winter foods.

Favorites from childhood, largely. Particularly my grandmother's chicken dumplings. Also rolls. Mac and cheese (not from scratch). A huge bowl of those frozen peas with the fake butter sauce. Canned green beans. Bison.

Some non-childhood comforts: Nebiyaki Udon, excellent green tea, really excellent apples, hot mulled cider. Dark chocolate, especially with bacon. Stews of all types, but particularly anything creamy or with potatoes.

Also, while sick, comfort food = food that makes you feel better.
Chicken soup
tea with honey
fresh ginger root tea
oatmeal

[genitiggie.livejournal.com]

Tomato soup. I used to love Heinz tomato soup out of a can, but it has milk in, so now I have to crave home made.
A good thick stew.
Bacon egg and chips (dammit, no more eggs for me. Substitute grilled tomato).
Toad in the hole. (eggs again)
Roast chicken.

Yup, I grew up with all of those.

Duck in plum sauce. I didn't grow up with that, and now it, too, makes me ill.

I guess comfort food now is anything I can eat without spending hours making it. Like oatcakes and hummus.

[kenjari.livejournal.com]

Oatmeal, pierogis, toast, chicken soup of all kinds (especially chicken pho and matzo ball soup), oatmeal raisin cookies, the turkey wrap at Zaftig's, butternut squash, soup and biscuits, tea, chocolate
Mostly it's things that make me feel better in some way if I'm sick, in pain, stressed, etc.