Ben sent me a link to a New York Times article about a hotel selling TV dinners for $30 a tray and passing them off as comfort food. My first impression was How weird! and How ironic! The weirdness and irony multiplied as I read through the article and realized that the hotel’s executive chef considered TV dinners as comfort food although in a topsy-turvy way.
Comfort food is nostalgia. It is about being reminded of happy memories of aromas permeating the kitchen where mom is cooking, of family dinners and barbecues and picnics… My Mac’s dictionary widget defines it as food that gives a sense of well-being, often high in sugar or carbohydrate content, and associated with childhood and home-cooking. Dictionary.com’s definition is “Food that is simply prepared and associated with a sense of home or contentment.” It’s all about feeling good. That is why many people often confuse good food with comfort food. For many, comfort food is the best food.
But for Mr. Rubin, the chef, it’s different. His fondest memories of food are those of with times when mom and dad weren’t there and he was alone with the babysitter.
Mr. Rubin waxed nostalgic: “I got TV dinners when my parents was going out to dinner and the baby sitter was coming over. That was a treat for me: Oh, cool! I got the little cake thing. There were the vegetables I could ignore because my mom wasn’t around.” [New York Times]
I thought that was really sad. It reminded me so much of Roald Dahl’s Matilda and her sense of wonderment when she first discovered real food on her visit to her teacher Miss Honey’s house. And I actually felt sorry for the guy. But then I realized he is trying to sell the idea that TV dinners can actually be comfort food and the sympathy flew out of the window.
But what’s even more weird are the findings of the Cornell University study mentioned in the article.
From Exploring Comfort Food Preferences Across Age and Gender:
A survey of over 1,000 North Americans conducted by the researchers from the Food and Brand Lab found that America’s favorite comfort foods are: 1. Potato chips (23%), 2. Ice cream (14%), 3. Cookies (12%), 4. Chocolate (11%), 5. Pizza or Pasta (11%), 6. Steak/Burgers (9%), 7. Casseroles (9%), 8. Soup (7%), 9. Vegetables (4%), and 10. Salad (3%).
Junk food occupying the first six slots. Gee… Of course, 1,000 subjects hardly represent the world population. They can’t even be considered representative of the entire North American population. But the findings still made my eyes pop and my jaw drop. Literally.
Well, whatever your choice of comfort food, eating comfort food (usually high sugar or high carb — now I know why eating cakes and pastries is so comforting) is said to be good for you because the sense of well-being triggers a biochemical reaction that reduces stress. It might clog your arteries in a couple of years but, momentarily, it’s a stress buster.
Obviously, the consumption of comfort food is related with oral fixation. People indulge or over-indulge in comfort food to replace some other lack in their lives. And the over-indulgence can lead to obesity. In which case, the consumption of comfort food as a feel-good thing becomes contradictory because obesity can farther undermine a person’s self-image. You know, you eat to feel good and end up feeling even worse.
Duh, what a screwed up specie the human race is.
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Kotsengkuba 06.25.08 at 10:35 pm
I never thought comfort food should be nostalgic. In that case, Sinampalukang Manok and Bistek Tagalog pala ang comfort food ko and not Sinigang. I used to live in Laguna since I started working and whenever I would go back in Manila, my mother would cook either of the two because his favorite son is present
The rest of my siblings’ perhaps is Sinigang sa Miso na Maya-maya. Especially my brother in Nueva Ecija. When that brother of mine and I went to Manila at the same time, my mother cooked Sinigang sa Miso which made me burst in tears. Hahaha, and I was 25 at that time. Sabi ko, “parang ayaw nyo kong pauwiin dito.” But then I realized my brother only go there twice a year at most so okay lang pala. That didn’t made me less favorite. hahaha.
When I came to China, I learned to love their Miso soup which made me guilty dahil ‘yung sinigang ni Nanay e hindi ko man lang magawang tikman. Di ko kase sya gusto nung bata ako and I grew up thinking it’s really not good.
So does it make Sinigang sa Miso my comfort food?
Connie Veneracion 06.25.08 at 10:42 pm
LOL I don’t know. Indirectly, perhaps?
Re miso soup in China. I only know Japanese miso soup. Didn’t know there was a Chinese version. How different are they?
BlogusVox 06.26.08 at 2:03 pm
For me, comfort food are those food I miss o hinde nakakain dito. So if I go on vacation, my family serves nothing but pork, pork and more pork.
Kotsengkuba 06.26.08 at 5:05 pm
the difference, it’s Sichuan Spicy
pinayhekmi 06.27.08 at 4:01 am
Talaga, humans are weird! My comfort food is my dad’s cooking. Woody really tries to cook the same as my dad and he always asks me which is better. I always have to answer: my dad’s hahah.
ben 06.27.08 at 7:28 am
Or what would constitute comfort food as opposed to guilty pleasures? I know that everytime I cook my mother’s baked chicken the way I remember the taste from childhood or my aunt’s style of kapampangan adobo that’s comfort food, but whenever I pass by a McDonalds and have an urge for a quarter pounder with cheese with large fries or pass by a grocery aisle and just stare at bags of imported potato chips that would be more like guilty pleasures to me.
Connie Veneracion 06.27.08 at 8:04 am
BlogusVox, I have a brother-in-law who used to work in Jeddah. Everytime he came home for a vacation, ganyan din — endless pork parade.
Kotsengkuba, thanks for the info. I bought a bag of Sichuan peppercorns about a week ago. Will ground them into the next pot of miso soup.
Pinayhekmi, you’re mean ha. LOL If I asked Speedy which is better, his mom’s cooking or mine, and he answers that it’s his mom’s, I’d smack him ha. LOL
Ben, perhaps for some people, there is no difference — comfort food may just be a euphemism for guilty pleasures hehehe
ben 06.27.08 at 9:20 am
Comfort Food + Comfort Room = There’s No Place Like Home.
Kotsengkuba 06.27.08 at 12:38 pm
To put it right (if I’m right), Japanese Miso soup is just miso soup. “Chinese miso soup” is more like the Sinigang sa Miso because it have lots of other ingredients such as a kind of pechay and the fish. And though the spices are standing out, there’s also the sour taste similar to that of kamias. Not sure what sour flavoring they’re using.
Connie Veneracion 06.27.08 at 12:49 pm
I Googled “chinese miso soup recipe” and found the same recipe on 3 sites (shucks, sino kaya ang nangopya?). The recipe includes vermicelli (sotanghon) among the ingredients.
Kotsengkuba 06.27.08 at 12:49 pm
Nga pala Connie, thanks dun sa adobong balun-balunan recipe mo. Though I used chicken instead, I have improved my adobo by following your procedure. I’ve always cooked adobo by mixing the vinegar and soy sauce and pour it at the same time. Mas okay pala pag papalambutin mo muna yung karne with vinegar tapos sa huli na ilalagay yung toyo.
My Chinese housemates and I loved it.
witsandnuts 06.27.08 at 2:24 pm
Wow,I didn’t pay much attention what comfort food really means. Without knowing it, I used to answer mine are chocos and chips. Now I am changing my response to ginataang hipon and beef caldereta.
inna 06.27.08 at 3:16 pm
my mom would cook nilagang baka and sinigang na baboy and pochero (not in one day) whenever i come to visit them. here in the states people consider mac & cheese comfort food- not me- no meat???? i can’t ever consider a meatless entree a meal. they also love pbj sandwiches. for me, it’s a thin slice of fried spam or ma-ling on white sliced bread with mayo on each side, or super hot pandesal with butter and liver spread.
i’m soo hungry for these now
Connie Veneracion 06.27.08 at 7:43 pm
Kotsengkuba, you’re welcome.
Witsandnuts, aahh… the dividing line between comfort food and guilty pleasures as Ben says?
Inna, pandesal must be one of the top foods that Pinoys overseas miss. Imagine, with the array of delicious breads abroad, still, nothing satisfies the way pandesal does.
nunosapunso 06.28.08 at 8:27 am
comfort food for me was the christmas fare prepared by my stepdad’s mom- there’d be home-prepared ham brined for days in a solution with caramelized sugar, ube halaya, embutido, potroast, leche flan, rellenong manok, home made fruit cake. Of course, she had an army of kitchen help in their house in kamias, q.c. After she died, well…no one among her children knew the recipes, so it died with her. Pity.
Sunday lunches after mass in Kamuning- with pochero or tinola. And my mom and stepdad are tru-blue atheists- it must have been due to obligations and or the sunday lunch as UP at that time didn’t have much possibilities to feed us kids, he,he,he.
Connie Veneracion 06.28.08 at 8:54 am
nunosapunso, wow! WOW. You’ve got images forming in my mind with your descriptions. Those dishes take a lot of manual work. I suppose it is the traditional way that makes them special — no ready-made anything back then.
nunosapunso 06.29.08 at 7:17 pm
yep, nobody in the family can replicate that anymore and this was not so long ago…mid-70’s….
Connie Veneracion 06.29.08 at 9:38 pm
Mid-70s, I was in grade school and experiencing the same wonderful things you did. My grandparents cooking for days and hosting family reunions on Christmas Day.
Miguk 07.01.08 at 8:20 am
It would be a comfort to find some Comfort Food here. I have to search far and wide for my versions. At least I finally found a place in Greenbelt that makes pumpkin pie woohoo!
JMonreal 07.01.08 at 9:39 am
Now that the kids are on their own, my wife cook my favorite dried cadios from Miagao with spinach or malungay, lemon grass and pork hocks; ginata-an na mungo with spinach or malungay and shrimps;and pinakbet.
When they are home for Christmas, other holidays, and/or weekends my wife will prepare everybody’s favorite, a few combination of the following - lumpia shanghai, pork butt lechon, pancit, garlic crabs, fruit salad and leche flan. Me, I get to serve the red wine and make the cafe con leche …hehehe.