Snuggling on the sofa with a bowl of steaming soup and a slice of crusty bread is supremely comforting in the winter months. Like an indulgent soak in the tub, spicy stew and dumplings, baked potatoes smothered in butter and plump sausages with creamy mash are all meals that bring instant solace when it’s cold outside.
But comfort food is not the preserve of winter – nor the UK. No matter what month, certain food is associated with a soothing effect: a bad day in July? – get the kedgeree on the stove. While everyone has a family recipe or a favourite dish to fall back on in the comfort of their own home, you’ll find the phrase “comfort food” on many a menu.
Comfort food has a universal appeal, and the idea that food is not just sustenance, but can have a positive psychological effect, is not a new one. Some of the world’s most popular comfort food can be traced back across centuries. Meatloaf, America’s mass culinary pacifier, is said to originate from a 4th-century Roman cookbook; you can see the appeal of rich minced meat and spices after a hard day at the colosseum. A mouthwatering dish of macaroni cheese has nursed people through breakups, job losses and broken limbs from Missouri to Macclesfield, and its origins – unsurprisingly – can be traced back to northern Italy and France, with pasta and cheese recipes recorded in the 13th century. Chicken soup – food for the soul, so they say – sprang out of Europe. In his 12th-century book, On the Cause of Symptoms, Rabbi Moses Maimonides, a Spanish-born scholar and physician, prescribed a chicken soup as medicine for the weak. The dish is still playfully known as Jewish penicillin.
These dishes have been prepared by doting parents for their children for centuries, and familiarity plays a huge part in turning food into a source of comfort. Comfort foods tend to be based on simple, traditional recipes, and many are based on leftovers – bubble and squeak, for example, or Mexican chilaquiles.
Our brains begin the association between taste and pleasure during childhood, when the food we enjoy tends to be simpler. As kids, we associate pleasing flavours with the sensation of satisfying our appetite. The more we eat the food we like, the fuller – and happier – we become. Consequently, in adulthood, when comfort is needed, we reach for food that can be relied upon to deliver simple taste and steady satisfaction: when you’re unwell, lonely or stressed, Heston Blumenthal’s bacon and egg ice-cream is no substitute for a tub of Cornish cream and vanilla. Comfort food doesn’t challenge us – it soothes, placates and nourishes.
You might associate comfort food with a certain individual – a parent or close relation. If your grandad made a mean spaghetti and meatballs when you went round for tea after school, you may always find comfort in that meal. But, however individual your story, you’re still likely to have the same favourites as others from a similar background. Within communities, successful recipes and food trends are still shared. Even today, the internet fosters foodie networking: in 10 years, a number of grownups will be gorging on Annabel Karmel’s chicken and apple balls in times of crisis.
Because comfort food is as much about nostalgia and heritage as it is about flavour, dishes vary across the globe. In Japan, oden, a broth-based dish made with eggs, radish and fish cakes, is loved by many. Pakoras – vegetable fritters – are popular in India. Pierogi is a Polish staple: whether eaten plain, as a dumpling, filled with beef for a savoury feast, or stuffed with cherries for an indulgent pudding.
But there is a common theme to these dishes: they are hearty, fragrant, stodgy, feelgood foods that fill up your senses as well as your stomach. They stir memories of home, wherever that might be. And perhaps that’s why comfort food is best enjoyed indoors, where you feel safe and warm. For the ultimate experience in comfort cuisine, pick a simple recipe, give yourself permission to eat on the sofa instead of at the table, slip on your comfiest clothes and set the heating to a cosy temperature. Grab your spoon, snuggle down and savour each comforting bite in front of your favourite film – nothing too challenging, just like the food. If anything really is good for the soul, this has got to be it.
