Chicken soup, a common classic comfort food that is found across various cultures

Comfort food is food that provides the eater a nostalgic or sentimental value and may be characterized by its satisfying heartiness and association with childhood or home cooking. The nostalgia may be specific to an individual or it may apply to a specific culture.

Definition and history

The term comfort food can be traced back at least to 1615, where in the beginning of the second part of Don Quixote, at the beginning of chapter one, Quixote's niece and her nurse are told to pamper him, "to give him things to eat which are comforting and appropriate for the heart and the brain..." . Others trace it back to 1966, when the Palm Beach Post used it in a story: "Adults, when under severe emotional stress, turn to what could be called 'comfort food'—food associated with the security of childhood, like mother's poached egg or famous chicken soup." According to research by April White at JSTOR, it might have been Liza Minnelli who used the term for the first time in its modern meaning in an interview, admitting to craving a hamburger.

When the term first appeared, newspapers used it in quotation marks. In the 1970s, the most popular comfort food in the United States were various potato dishes and chicken soup, but even at the time, the definition varied from person to person. During the next decades, the nature of comfort food changed in the US, shifting from savory dishes to sweet ones, while comfort food themed cookbooks started to spread and restaurants started to offer items labelled as such, when originally the term was used for food items consumed "home alone". Worldwide diet trends emerging in the 1990s, like the low fat or the low-carb diet, were unable to end the cravings for comfort food. According to White, the COVID-19 pandemic that hit the world in 2020 further strengthened people's need for comfort food that evokes nostalgia and the feeling of belonging.

Psychological studies

Consuming energy-dense, high calorie, high fat, salt or sugar foods, such as ice cream or french fries, may trigger the reward system in the human brain, which gives a distinctive pleasure or temporary sense of emotional elevation and relaxation. These feelings can also be induced by psychoactive ingredients found in other foods, such as coffee and chocolate. When psychological conditions are present, people often use comfort food to treat themselves. Those with negative emotions tend to eat unhealthy food in an effort to experience the instant gratification that comes with it, even if only short-lived.

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.

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." The study also revealed strong connections between consumption of comfort foods and feelings of guilt.

Comfort food consumption is seen as a response to emotional stress and, consequently, as a key contributor to the epidemic of obesity in the United States. The provocation of specific hormonal responses leading selectively to increases in abdominal fat is seen as a form of self-medication.

Further studies suggest that consumption of comfort food is triggered in men by positive emotions, and by negative ones in women. The stress effect is particularly pronounced among college-aged women, with only 33% reporting healthy eating choices during times of emotional stress. For women specifically, these psychological patterns may be maladaptive.

A therapeutic use of these findings includes offering comfort foods or "happy hour" beverages to anorectic geriatric patients whose health and quality of life otherwise decreases with reduced oral intake.

Comfort foods provide emotional nutrition in the form of familiar tastes and a sense of security in stressful situations, but when taken in large quantities these foods become addictive and impair a person from engaging in new experiences or meeting challenges head-on. A reliance on comfort foods can stifle growth and transition, since the comfort foods are overused during times of transition and distress. The foods that people over-consume during stress periods leads to a state of emotional inertia where people may become resistant to necessary change or adaptation. This reliance on experience rather than interaction with present or upcoming situations eventually stifles the ability to thrive in fluid situations and inhibits the potential for personal growth.

By region

A partial list by region of comfort foods around the world.

Afghanistan

Comfort foods in Afghanistan are:

  • Aushak – stuffed dumplings and sauce
  • Bolani – filled flatbread
  • Borani Banjan or Borani-e-Banjan – baked eggplant with yogurt sauce
  • Borani Kadoo or Borani-e-Kado – sweet and savory braised pumpkin with yogurt sauce
  • Chainaki – lamb stew, traditionally served in a bowl lined with naan, and cooked in a clay vessel known as a chainak
  • Chalaw or Challow – steamed rice with spices
  • Kabuli palaw or Qabuli Pulao – steamed rice with raisins, carrots, and lamb
  • Karahai – meat cooked in a traditional karahi pot
  • Kebab – grilled skewered meat
  • Korma Gosht or Qorma-e-Gosht – braised meat
  • Mantu – meat-stuffed dumpling
  • Naan – flatbread
  • Sabzi Palu – spinach (sabzi) with spices
  • Sher Berinj – rice pudding

Australia, New Zealand and South Africa

A Pavlova garnished with fruit and cream

Comfort foods in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa may include:

Austria

Wiener Schnitzel

Austrian (and especially Viennese) comfort foods may include the following foods:

Brazil

Brigadeiro, a truffle-like confection

Canada

A plate of classic poutine at the Montreal restaurant La Banquise

Egypt

Plate of stewed beans
Ful medames served with hard-boiled eggs, a staple in Egypt
  • Basbousa – sweet unleavened cake
  • Falafel – fried bean ball
  • Fatteh – meat soup on cooked rice with crisp flatbread with garlic sauce
  • Ful medames – bean stew
  • Hawawshi – pita bread stuffed with flavored meat
  • Kushari – casserole of rice, macaroni, and vegetables
  • Macarona béchamel – baked pasta dish with ground meat and béchamel sauce
  • Sahlab – winter beverage from Orchis flour
  • Mulukhiyah – soup or stew made with jute mallow leaves
  • Om Ali – Pastry mixed with milk, nuts and sometimes coconut flakes topped with cream or butter and baked

France

A madeleine. A madeleine de Proust is a French expression specifically referring to Marcel Proust's description of comfort food in In Search of Lost Time.

Germany

Flädlesuppe

German comfort foods may include the following foods:

Greece

Hong Kong

Hungary

Puliszka with curd cheese and smoked lard (left) and plum preserve (right)

India

India's cuisine is diverse. Some Indian comfort foods – regional and subcontinent-wide – are listed below.

Indonesia

Bubur ayam (chicken congee) is an Indonesian comfort food.

Some popular Indonesian foods are considered to be comfort food, usually served hot or warm, and either soupy or with a soft texture. Most of them are high in carbs or fat, such as congee, fried rice, and noodles which are high in carbs; while meatballs and grilled skewered meats contain fair amounts of fat and salt. Comfort foods often are the kind of food that provides nostalgic sentiments, as they often called masakan rumahan (home cooking) or masakan ibu (mother's dishes). In Indonesia, the warm and soft texture of bubur ayam is believed to help people to recover during convalescence. Sayur sop or sup ayam is Indonesian chicken soup that often sought during flu. The warm soup contains chunk of chicken, bits of potato, carrot, and common green bean served in chicken stock.

Some are traditional Indonesian food and some are derived from Chinese influences. Indonesian comfort foods include:

Ireland

Irish comfort food can include:

Italy

Panna cotta

Japan

In Japan, there is an expression called "Taste of Mom(おふくろの味)".

Lithuania

Kugelis

Philippines

Pork adobo
  • Adobo – A salt and vinegar marinated meat stew, with a large amount of local and regional variations.
  • Arroz Caldo / Lugaw – A thick, savory rice porridge, often served as breakfast, on rainy days, or when sick.
  • Batchoy – A noodle soup with a variety of meats.
  • Filipino spaghetti - Sweet and savory spaghetti
  • Ginataan – A coconut cream-based dessert soup with candied banana, sticky rice balls, sagó (tapioca balls), taro, and langkâ (jackfruit).
  • Bulalo – A beef bone marrow soup.
  • Champorado – Chocolate rice porridge, sometimes served savory (as with tuyô)
  • Dinuguan - A pork blood and offal stew.
  • Halo-halo – A cold, crushed ice dessert dish of mixed sweets in fruits, with milk and topped with ice cream and leche flan.
  • Kare-kare – A stew of ox tripe and oxtail in a peanut sauce. It is regarded as a local variant of Indian curry.
  • Lumpia – Fried or fresh spring rolls with vegetable or meat filling.
  • Lomi – A hot noodle soup with distinctly thick egg noodles.
  • Pancit – A class of noodles, almost always fried or stir-fried, and often served during birthday celebrations.
  • Puto – Steamed rice cakes
  • Sinampalukan - Sour, tamarind-based chicken soup
  • Sinigang – A classification of sour soups with different configurations of meats, vegetables, and souring agents.
  • Sopas - A creamy soup (usually made with chicken) with elbow macaroni.
  • Suman – Another type of glutinous rice cake
  • Tsokolate – Hot chocolate drink made with cacao, served with or without milk.

Poland

Steamed pierogi, with fried onions on top

Some Polish comfort food include:

Portugal

Puerto Rico

Arroz con pollo: chicken with rice

Some Puerto Rican comfort foods include:

  • Arroz con gandules – rice with pigeon peas
  • Arroz con pollo – rice with chicken
  • Bistec encebollado – steak and onions
  • Carne Guisada – stewed beef
  • Carne mechada – Puerto Rican style meatloaf
  • Churrasco – grilled flank or skirt steak
  • Cuchifritos and Fritanga – assortments of fried appetizers (alcapurrias, bacalaitos, pastelitos/pastelillos, piononos, sorullos/sorullitos)
  • Habichuelas guisadas con calabaza – beans stewed with pumpkin
  • Lechón asado – roast pork
  • Mixta – white rice, stewed beans with pumpkin and stewed meat with potatoes and carrots
  • Mofongo and trifongo – fried mashed green plantains
  • Mofongo relleno de mariscos, carne o pollo – Fried mashed green plantains stuffed with seafood, meat or chicken
  • Pasteles – Puerto Rican tamales
  • Pastelón de plátano maduro – ripe banana casserole with ground beef and cheddar cheese
  • Pinchos – Puerto Rican skewers
  • Tostones – fried plantain slices

Romania

Papanași

Romanian comfort foods may include:

Russia

Solyanka

Russian comfort foods may include:

Singapore

South Korea

Seolleongtang

Spain

Chocolate con churros

Switzerland

Fondue is an emblematic Swiss comfort food.

Traditional Swiss cuisine is characterized by its simplicity and extensive use of dairy products like cheese, cream and butter. Fruits (often apple compote) are also used in many (main) dishes, notably Älplermagronen and Maluns.

  • Älplermagronen – pasta, potatoes, cream, cheese, and onions
  • Capuns – stuffed leaves
  • Cholera – filled pastry
  • Fondue – melted cheese sauce for dipping
  • Maluns – potato pieces slow-fried in butter
  • Pizzoccheri – buckwheat-and-wheat pasta with cheese
  • Raclette – melted cheese
  • Rösti – grated potato pancake with various accompaniments
  • Wähe – pastry shell with custard and various ingredients

Taiwan

Dan zai noodles

Turkey

Mantı, with yogurt and red pepper sauce

Some Turkish comfort foods are:

Ukraine

Ukrainian comfort foods include, but aren't limitied to:

  • Borscht — beetroots soup, also there are few variants: Green borscht White borscht Cabbage borscht
  • Deruny — potato pancakes with sour cream
  • Holubtsi — small, medium or large rolls with prepared rice Cabbage roll Grape leaves roll
  • Kasha — kind of porridge
  • Kolach — sweet, round shaped pastry
  • Mlynci — pancakes. Nalysnyky — pancakes with fillings
  • Pampushky — small savory or sweet yeast-raised bun
  • Pyrizhky — baked or fried small donuts with different (mostly fruits or meat) fillings. (Not to be confused with Polish PiErogi or Russian PirogI)
  • Syrnyky — fried quark pancakes, garnished with sour cream
  • Varennia — jam
  • Varenyky — Filled dumplings cooked at boiling water
  • Vinegret — Beans and potato salad colored with beetroots

United Kingdom

Bangers and mash is a British comfort food.

United Kingdom comfort foods include:

United States

Macaroni and cheese is an American comfort food.

American comfort foods may include the following foods:

See also

Further reading

  • Hoffman, Jan (15 December 2014). . Well.
  • . USA Today.

External links

  • Media related to Comfort food at Wikimedia Commons