Comfort food is food that provides a nostalgic or sentimental value to someone^[1] and may be characterized by its high caloric nature associated with childhood or home cooking.^[2] The nostalgia may be specific to an individual or it may apply to a specific culture.^[3]

Definition and history

The term comfort food has been traced back at least 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."^[4] 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.^[5]

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 USA, 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.^[5]

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.^[6][7] These feelings can also be induced by psychoactive ingredients found in other foods, such as coffee and chocolate.^[8] 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.^[9]

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.^[10]

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.^[11]

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.^[12] The provocation of specific hormonal responses leading selectively to increases in abdominal fat is seen as a form of self-medication.^[13]

Further studies suggest that consumption of comfort food is triggered in men by positive emotions, and by negative ones in women.^[14] The stress effect is particularly pronounced among college-aged women, with only 33% reporting healthy eating choices during times of emotional stress.^[15] For women specifically, these psychological patterns may be maladaptive.^[16]

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.^[17]

By region

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

Afghanistan

Comfort foods in Afghanistan are:

Australia, New Zealand and South Africa

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

Brazil

Canada

Egypt

• Basbousa – sweet unleavened cake
• Falafel – fried bean ball^[40]
• Fatteh – meat soup on cooked rice with crisp flatbread with garlic sauce^[41]
• Ful medames – bean stew^[42][43]
• Hawawshi – pita bread stuffed with flavored meat^[44]
• Kushari – casserole of rice, macaroni, and vegetables^[45]
• Macarona béchamel – baked pasta dish with ground meat and béchamel sauce^[46]
• Sahlab – winter beverage from Orchis flour^[47]
• Mulukhiyah – soup or stew made with jute mallow leaves^[48][49]
• Om Ali – Pastry mixed with milk, nuts and sometimes coconut flakes topped with cream or butter and baked^[50]

France

Germany

German comfort foods may include the following foods:

Greece

• Pastitsio^[55]
• Moussaka^[56]
• Gemista^[57]
• Gyros^[56]
• Keftedakia – meatballs^[57]
• Koulourakia^[57]
• Dolmadakia
• Souvlaki^[56]

Hong Kong

Hungary

• Aranygaluska – dough balls rolled in a mixture of sugar and crushed nuts^[65][66]
• Goulash soup^[66]
• Chicken soup^[65][66]
• Lángos – yeast dough deep fried in oil with various toppings^[67]
• Madártej – meringue floating on crème anglaise^[65]
• Chicken paprikash^[65][66]
• Paprikás krumpli [hu] – potato stew with paprika^[67]
• Pörkölt – meat stew with paprika^[66]
• Puliszka – polenta with toppings^[65]
• Rántott hús – a type of Snitzel; but also fried chicken is called the same way^[66]
• Tejbegríz – Semolina pudding^[65]
• Tojásos nokedli – small, plump soft noodles with eggs^[65]

India

• Biryani – Mutton, chicken, beef or lamb^[68]
• Chaat^[69]
• Curd rice – Rice mixed with yogurt^[69][70]
• Curry
• Cutlet^[71]
• Dal chawal – particularly in North India
• Fish fry
• Kachori^[72]
• Kadhi chawal - curd curry with rice^[70]
• Rolls
• Maachh-bhaat
• Momo
• Sambar
• Samosa^[73]
• Puri – Fried flatbread^[74]
• Masala Dosa – rice crepes, with or without a filling of potatoes and onion^[75]
• Khichdi – Made with Rice and Legumes (lentils, mung beans)^[69]
• Pav bhaji – Curry served with buttered buns.
• Radhaballavi – Deep-fried flatbread with a filling
• Rajma chawal – rice with beans^[69]
• Rasam and Curd rice – particularly in South India
• Vada Pav

Indonesia

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.^[76] 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.^[77]

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

• Bakmi or mie ayam – noodles (mi) with pork (bak) or chicken (ayam)^[78]

Indonesian comfort foods include:

• Bakso – meatball soup^[76][79][80]
• Bubur ayam – chicken congee^[76]
• Gado-gado – salad containing vegetables, tempeh and egg in peanut sauce^[81]
• Indomie Mi goreng – fried noodle^[76][82]

Ireland

• Bangers and mash^[86]
• Coddle^[87]
• Colcannon^[86]
• Fish and chips^[86]
• Full Irish breakfast^[86]
• Irish stew^[87][86]
• Shepherd's pie^[87][86]
• Soda bread^[86]
• Spice bag^[86]
• 3-in-1 (egg-fried rice, chips, and curry sauce)^[87]

Italy

Japan

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

• Tamago kake gohan - cooked rice topped with raw egg^[99]

Philippines

Poland

Some Polish comfort food include:

Puerto Rico

Some Puerto Rican comfort foods include:

Romania

Romanian comfort foods may include:

Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Comfort_foods
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