What exactly is comfort food?

[FryBoy]

Pot Roast with Mashed Potatoes and Peas.
Macaroni & Cheese.
Enchiladas (I grew up in SoCal).

[Claire]

For most of us, comfort food is what Mommy made us. For me it is a roasted chicken, pork or beef, with mashed potatoes and gravy. Chicken soup. Ice cream. Spaghetti with red sauce. Meat loaf. But it is very different. None of my Hawaiian friends would even imagine a meal without a big pot of rice, and that rice, sitting in the rice cooker when they got home from school would probably be it. My husband also is a rice lover, and rice with an egg and some cheese mixed in is one of his. But mostly comfort food is about something that makes you feel coddled and loved and taken care of -- even if you're making it yourself!

[Mylegsbig]

mac and cheese

chicken fried steak

those are my personal fav ideas of comfort food.

[luvs]

to me it's stouffer's macaroni & cheese, grilled cheese with soup, etc.

[luvs]

Originally Posted by Mylegsbig

mac and cheese

chicken fried steak

those are my personal fav ideas of comfort food.

jake LOVES chicken-fried steak! does anyone else want to speak with your Mom & ask if she'll cook you a meal?

[Mel!]

Hello Vagriller

I think, it is food, which is full of calories and fat. I think it is especially comforting for women. It promotes feel good brain chemistry, in us.

Mel

[licia]

Home made soup is certainly a comfort food for me. But anything that makes me recall the past with good memories is comfort food.

[XeniA]

It's got to be particularly therapeutic, so to me that means there has to be something "off" with you when you eat it. You're sick, you're cold, you're tired, you're blue, you're bored ... something's wrong, and it fixes it.

And I'd even get nerdy enough to suggest that the specific food for each of those different "offs" is a bit different!

For coming out of a bad flu or cold? That important first meal your tummy can hold? Sliced bread, cut in cubes, brown sugar, hot milk.

For coming in from outside on a cold winter day when your feet are frozen solid? A hot cup of "nursery" tea, i.e. strong, lots of sugar, lots of milk.

Tired? Fresh scrambled eggs and toast with butter and marmalade.

Blue? Pasta or potatoes with butter, cream, cheese.

Bored? Ice cream sundaes, nachos, popcorn.

[SHAMALICIOUS]

Some of my comfort foods are eggy bread (reminds me of childhood days when mum used to get up early to make us a breakfast of eggy bread on school days), toast cut into 4 squares, for the same reason, roast chicken cos all the family would sit down together and feast on roast chicken on special occasions, dates because its considered a special food for muslims, every ramadhan, everyone would open their fast with a date

[Dina]

The reasons that something becomes a comfort food are diverse but include the food's familiarity, simplicity, and/or pleasant associations.