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
Comfort foods in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa may include:
Braised lamb shanks Bread and butter pudding Butterscotch apple dumplings Casserole (beef or chicken) Chicken soup Fish and Chips Golden syrup pikelets Honey and oat slices Hot chips Lamingtons Mashed potatoes Meat pie Pea and ham soup Pie floater Porridge, topped with brown sugar or honey, yogurt, nuts, and fruit Potato wedges Pumpkin soup Rice custard Roast meat (beef, chicken, or pork with crackling) Roast potatoes Sausage and mash Sausage roll Shepherd's pie Spaghetti Steak and kidney pie Sticky date pudding Vegemite or Marmite on toast
Austria
Austrian (and especially Viennese) comfort foods may include the following foods:
Apfelstrudel Fiakergulasch Fleischlaberln Frankfurter Frittatensuppe Grammelschmalz Grießnockerlsuppe Gulaschsuppe Käsekrainer Kaiserschmarrn Mannerschnitten Palatschinken Paprikahendl Sachertorte Schinkenfleckerln Schweinsbraten Topfenstrudel Wiener Schnitzel Zwetschkenknödel
Brazil
Açaí na tigela Arroz e feijão Baião de dois, a variation of the traditional rice and beans prepared with green beans Bobó de camarão Brigadeiro, a dessert common in children birthday parties Carne-de-sol Canjica Coxinha, a very popular chicken dumpling Churrasco Cuscuz Feijoada Flan Galinhada Moqueca Pão de queijo Virado
Canada
Butter tart / Tarte au sucre – small sweet tart-shaped pastries Cake Cheesecake Chili and beans Chocolate bars Cookies Fish and chips Fried chicken Fried rice Ginger beef Grilled cheese sandwich Hamburger Ice cream Lasagna Macaroni and cheese Nanaimo bar Pancakes with maple syrup Pea soup Pierogies Pizza Potatoes such as French fries, Hash browns, Mashed potatoes, Potato chips, and Potato salad Poutine Roast meat (beef, chicken, turkey or pork with crackling) Roast potatoes Rhubarb pie Sausage and mash Sausage roll Scrambled eggs on toast Shepherd's pie Spaghetti Steak and kidney pie Tourtière – meat pie with pork and lard
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
Crème caramel – custard dessert French onion soup – onion soup with cheese and bread Gratin dauphinois – potato slices baked with cream Pâté – cold meat paste Pot-au-feu – beef stew
Germany
German comfort foods may include the following foods:
Arme Ritter Auszogne Bouletten, Frikadellen, Fleischpflanzerl etc. Bratkartoffeln Currywurst Flädlesuppe Fleischsalat Frankfurter Franzbrötchen Gaisburger Marsch Hamburger Aalsuppe Hamburger Labskaus Kartoffelpuffer Käsespätzle Klöße Kohlrouladen Leberkäse Laugenbrezn, Laugengebäck Maultaschen Mett Münchner Weißwürscht Nürnberger Lebkuchen Nürnberger Rostbratwurst Obazda Pichlstoana Regensburger Rote Grütze Rindsrouladen Sauerbraten Saumagen Schwäbische Spätzle Schlachtplatte Schnitzel Schweinshaxn Spanferkel Steckerlfisch Schweinsbraten
Greece
Gemista – stuffed vegetables Gyros – sliced rotisserie meat wrapped in flatbread Keftedakia – meatballs Koulourakia – butter cookies Moussaka – baked eggplant or potato dish Pastitsio – baked pasta dish with minced meat and béchamel sauce Dolmadakia – stuffed leaves Souvlaki – meat on a skewer
Hong Kong
Baked pork chop rice– a type of Hong Kong-style western cuisine Cart noodle – an à la carte noodle dish traditionally sold using carts Cha Chaan Teng – a Hong Kong style place to eat comfort food Dim Sum – small bite-sized portions of food served in small steamer baskets during yum cha Egg Tart Hotpot Macaroni in broth – a type of Hong Kong-style western cuisine Pineapple Bun – a type of pastry that resembles a pineapple Put chai ko – a palm-sized pudding cake snack Siu Mei (including char siu) – meats roasted on spits over an open fire or in a large rotisserie oven
Hungary
Aranygaluska – dough balls rolled in a mixture of sugar and crushed nuts Goulash soup Chicken soup Lángos – yeast dough deep fried in oil with various toppings Madártej – meringue floating on crème anglaise Chicken paprikash – potato stew with paprika Pörkölt – meat stew with paprika Puliszka – polenta with toppings Rántott hús – a type of Snitzel; but also fried chicken is called the same way Tejbegríz – Semolina pudding Tojásos nokedli – small, plump soft noodles with eggs
India
India's cuisine is diverse. Some Indian comfort foods – regional and subcontinent-wide – are listed below.
Biryani – mutton, chicken or lamb Chaat – savoury snacks Curd rice – rice mixed with yogurt Curry Cutlet – deep-fried fritter of meat or vegetables Dal chawal – spiced lentils and rice, particularly in North India Fish fry Kachori – spicy stuffed pastry from Rajasthan Kadhi chawal – curd curry with rice Kati roll – meat wrapped in flatbread, street food from West Bengal Maach-bhaat – fish with rice, from Bengal Momo – steamed filled dumpling Sambar – lentil-based vegetable stew Samosa – triangular pastry with a savory filling Puri – fried flatbread Masala Dosa – rice crepes, with or without a filling of potatoes and onion Khichdi – stew made with rice and legumes (lentils, mung beans) Pav bhaji – curry served with buttered buns Radhaballavi – deep-fried flatbread with a filling Rajma chawal – rice with beans Rasam and Curd rice – particularly in South India Vada pav – potato dumpling inside a bread bun, especially in Maharashtra
Indonesia