Comfort food

Comfort food is food that provides a nostalgic or sentimental value to someone, and may be characterized by its high caloric nature associated 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 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." According to a 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 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.
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.
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
Brazil
Brigadeiro, a dessert common in children birthday parties.
Flan.
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, 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
Pastitsio
Moussaka
Gemista
Gyros
Keftedakia – meatballs
Koulourakia
Dolmadakia
Souvlaki
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
Biryani – Mutton, chicken, beef or lamb
Chaat
Curd rice – Rice mixed with yogurt
Cutlet
Daal chawal – particularly in North India
Fish fry
Kachori
Kadhi chawal - curd curry with rice
Rolls
Maachh-bhaat
Momo
Sambar
Samosa
Puri – Fried flatbread
Masala Dosa – rice crepes, with or without a filling of potatoes and onion
Khichdi – 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
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. 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 Indonesian comfort foods are traditional Indonesian food and some are derived from Chinese influences. For some Indonesians, especially those who are abroad, comfort food might also be a certain brand or type of Indonesian instant noodle, such as Indomie Mi goreng. Indonesian comfort foods include:
Bakmi or mie ayam – noodles (mi) with pork (bak) or chicken (ayam)
Bakso – meatball soup
Bubur ayam – chicken congee
Gado-gado – salad containing vegetables, tempeh and egg in peanut sauce
Indomie Mi goreng – fried noodle
Nasi goreng – fried rice
Nasi tim – steamed chicken rice
Sayur sop or sup ayam – Indonesian chicken and vegetables soup
Sate – skewered barbecue with peanut sauce
Soto ayam – spicy chicken soup
Ireland
Bangers and mash
Coddle
Colcannon
Fish and chips
Full Irish breakfast
Irish stew
Shepherd's pie
Soda bread
Spice bag
3-in-1 (egg-fried rice, chips, and curry sauce)
Italy
Bruschetta
Cacciucco – fish stew
Crostini – small toasted bread slices with toppings
Gnocchi – small soft dough dumplings
Lasagne – flat noodles (pasta) layered with meat, cheese and tomato sauce
Pasta all'amatriciana – pasta with guanciale, tomato sauce and pecorino cheese
Pasta alla carbonara – pasta with egg guanciale, and pecorino cheese
Nutella – sweet spread of cocoa and hazelnuts
Panna cotta – sweetened cream thickened with gelatin
Pizza – baked flatbread with toppings
Porchetta – boneless pork roast
Risotto
Japan
Curry Rice/Kare Raisu – Stewed vegetables - most commonly potato, onion, and carrot - in a mild curry sauce, sometimes with meat
Chazuke/ochazuke – rice with green tea
Miso soup – soybean-flavored clear soup
Mochi – rice cake
Onigiri – rice ball
Ramen – soup with thin noodles
Takoyaki – octopus balls
Tempura – battered, deep-fried pieces of meat or vegetables
Udon – soup with thick noodles
Philippines
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
Some Polish comfort food include:
Soups and stews
Bigos – "hunters' stew"
Barszcz z uszkami – a variant of borscht, a clear beetroot soup with forest mushrooms dumplings
Gulasz – goulash / meat and vegetable stew
Kapuśniak – sour cabbage soup (sauerkraut soup)
Rosół – chicken soup with fine noodles
Zupa grzybowa – wild mushroom soup
Zupa ogórkowa – sour cucumber soup
Zupa pomidorowa – clear tomato soup with rice or noodles
Zupa szczawiowa – sorrel soup served with boiled egg
Żurek – sour rye soup
Budyń waniliowy z malinami – vanilla pudding with raspberries
Kotlet schabowy – pork schnitzel
Golonka – stewed or roasted ham hock
Kopytka – small potato dumpling
Łazanki – large flat noodles with fried sauerkraut
– pasta with cream and strawberries
– pancakes with milk curd
Pierogi – filled dumplings
Placki ziemniaczane – potato pancakes
Sernik – baked cheesecake
– pickled herring
Zasmażana kapusta - braised sauerkraut
Zapiekanka – toasted open-face sandwich
Puerto Rico
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
Russia
Russian comfort foods may include:
Bliny – pancakes or crepes
Borscht
Dressed herring – layered herring salad
Golubtsy – cabbage rolls
Kasha – buckwheat porridge
Kotlety – meatballs
Kholodets – savory gelatin
Kulebyaka - a fish pie
Kvass – fermented drink made with bread
Napoleon – layered cake with layers of pastry and cream
Okroshka – cold vegetable soup
Oladyi – small thick pancakes or fritters
Olivier salad – mayo, sausage and vegetable salad
Pelmeni – meat-filled dumpling
Pirozhki – buns with various fillings
Rassolnik – soup with pickles
Shashlik – skewered and grilled cubes of meat
Shchi – predominantly cabbage soup
Solyanka – spicy and sour soup
Syrniki – cottage cheese pancakes
Ukha – fish-based clear soup
Vareniki – filled dumplings (see pierogi for Poland)
Vinegret – a salad made of diced vegetables, normally sour
Zakuski – an array of dishes to supplement main courses
South Korea
Tteokbokki – rice cakes in spicy chili stew
Shin Ramyun – instant noodles by Nongshim
Kimbap – cooked rice rolled in seaweed and stuffed with vegetables or meat
Samgyeopsal – roasted pork belly
Mandu – dumplings with various fillings
Soups and stews
Kimchi jjigae – spicy stew made with kimchi
Haejang-guk – vegetables and meat in beef broth
Sundubu-jjigae – soft tofu stew
Seolleongtang – ox bone soup
Budae-jjigae – "army stew" with noodles, Spam, vegetables and other ingredients
Kalguksu – soup with handmade noodles
Spain
Castañas asadas – roasted chestnuts
Chocolate con churros – hot chocolate drink with fried dough
Cordero asado – grilled lamb
Fried seafood, such as boquerones fritos (fried anchovies) and calamares fritos (fried squid)
Gazpacho – cold vegetable soup
Jamón serrano – Serrano ham
Paella – rice with saffron, cooked in a shallow pan
Sausage, such as chorizo, morcilla, and salchichón
Sobao – sweet bread
Stew, such as cocido madrileño (Madrid stew)
Tarta de Santiago – almond cake or tart
Torreznos – bacon
Tortilla española or tortilla de patata – potato omelet
Catalonia
Comfort foods in Catalonia include:
Pa amb tomàquet (bread smeared with tomato and olive oil, and sometimes garlic)
Allioli (Aioli) (sauce which is an emulsion of garlic and olive oil. The name literally means "garlic and oil" in Catalan)
Catalan-style cod (with raisins and pine nuts)
Escalivada (various grilled vegetables)
Escudella i carn d'olla (a broth, it may be served as soup with pasta and minced meats and vegetables, or as the soup first and then the rest)
Canelons (Cannelloni with a bechamel sauce)
Esqueixada (salted cod salad with tomato and onion)
Mongetes amb botifarra (beans and pork sausage)
(a seafood casserole)
Savoury coca ("Sea and Mountain") dishes, which combine meat and seafood
Embotits, a generic name for different kinds of cured pork meat, including fuet (a characteristic type of dried sausage), salchichón or llonganissa (salami) and different kinds of cold cut botifarra.
Calçot (specially cultivated onion, grilled and served as a "Calçotada")
Caragols a la llauna (cooked snails)
Sonsos and many other Mediterranean fresh fish
Crema catalana (custard made from egg yolks, milk, sugar, lemon zest and cinnamon)
Panellets (bite-sized cakes in different shapes, mostly round, made mainly of marzipan)
Switzerland
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
Capuns
Cholera
Fondue
Maluns
Pizzoccheri
Raclette
Rösti (with various accompaniments)
Wähe (with various ingredients)
Taiwan
Beef noodle soup
Dan zai noodles – noodles and prawn with broth
Minced pork rice
Oyster omelette
Red bean soup
Small sausage in large sausage – grilled sausage in a rice casing
Tangyuan – filled rice dumplings in sweet syrup
Turkey
Some Turkish comfort foods are:
Mantı – spicy meat dumpling
Kuru fasulye – bean and tomato stew
Pilav – rice dish
Mercimek Çorbası – a soup based on lentils
Börek – baked filled pastries, a wide variety of regional variations of börek exists
Menemen - commonly eaten for breakfast
Yaprak Sarma - stuffed grape leaves
Gözleme - a stuffed flatbread , commonly stuffed with spinach, minced meat and potato mash
Lahmacun
Pide
Tarhana soup
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
Vinehret — Beans and potato salad colored with beetroots
United Kingdom
United Kingdom comfort foods include:
Bacon butty (bacon sandwich)
Bangers and mash – sausages and mashed potatoes
Biscuit
Cauliflower cheese
Chicken Tikka Masala
Cornish pasty
Cottage pie (Shepherd's pie)
Custard
Curry – India-inspired stew over rice
Egg and chips
Egg and soldiers – toast sliced into approximately six to eight pieces lengthwise, to dip into soft-boiled egg yolk
Fish and chips
Fish finger sandwich - A sandwich with fish fingers
Fruit Crumble – stewed fruit with crumbly topping
Full English breakfast
Lancashire hotpot
Pies
Cheese pie, with potatoes or other savory ingredients
Fish pie
Pork pie
Steak and kidney pie
Potatoes
Jacket potato
Mashed potatoes
Puddings
Bread and butter pudding
Jam Roly-Poly – suet pudding rolled in a spiral with jam
Rice pudding
Spotted dick – steamed pudding with dried fruit
Sticky toffee pudding
Treacle pudding
Roasted meat, such as roast beef or chicken
Scotch egg – hard-boiled egg baked in sausage
Soups and stews
Beef stew with dumplings
Cock-a-leekie soup
Lobscouse or lobscows – meat stew
Potato, leek, and Stilton soup
Stottie cake – heavy, round bread
Toad in the hole – sausages baked in Yorkshire pudding
Toast
Baked beans on toast
Welsh Rarebit – hot cheese sauce on toast
Toastie – grilled sandwich
Tea
Yorkshire pudding
United States
American comfort foods may include the following foods:
Apple pie
Beef stew
Biscuits and gravy
Breakfast cereal
Burritos
Cake
Casseroles
Chicken and dumplings
Chicken fried steak
Chicken soup
Chili
Chili mac
Chocolate
Chocolate chip cookies
Chowders: Clam chowder, Shrimp chowder, Corn chowder, etc.
Cornbread
Corned beef and cabbage
Cupcakes
Fluffernutter
French fries
Fried chicken
Green bean casserole
Green chile stew
Grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup
Grits
Hotdish
Ice cream
Lasagna
Macaroni and cheese
Mashed potatoes
Meatloaf
Peanut butter
Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
Pepperoni rolls
Pizza
Popcorn
Potato chips
Pot roast
Red beans and rice
Tamale pie
Tuna casserole
See also
Diet food
Dish (food)
Emotional eating
Food group
Food presentation
Haute cuisine
List of foods
List of nutrition guides
Outline of food preparation
Portion size
Whole food
References
Further reading
External links
Eating disorders
Food and drink terminology
Nostalgia
Obesity
Psychological stress