Nobody asked me, but...: What is so comforting about certain foods?

Thursday, December 02, 2004

What is so comforting about certain foods?

Michele at A Small Victory wrote of her horrible Wednesday, involving an ATM glitch, a shopping cart full of food, and local black out:

And even my daughter refused to understand the situation was just a technical glitch and no, we weren't poor, we weren't going to starve to death because mommy has no food money and would you please stop making a scene, I know you're doing it on purpose, even when I called home to see if we had cash laying around but no one answered the phone and I had to leave my cart of groceries at the counter while I drove to my mother's house (braving the five million mph winds that were threatening to knock down every street light and telephone pole) and dragged her back to the store with me so she could use her AmEx to pay from my freaking food, most food items being of the "I'm sick and I need comfort food" variety like frozen pizza and a chocolate coffee eggnog cake and some Ring Dings and thank jeebus I had some fruit in the cart so my mother didn't give me a lecture on how my kids were going to suffer from malnutrition, through all that I kept repeating the mantra, it's almost over.

There it is again! Comfort food. Am I the only person in the world to whom this reference is completely meaningless? What is this strange phenomenon around certain foods? Why is 'baked ziti' considered ordinary (therefore not comforting) yet the seemingly cherished 'mac & cheese' the stereotypical comfort food of all comfort foods?? Aren't they in the same genre of foodstuff?

And while I applaud and enjoy Michele's writing (as it has been referenced several times in this Blog), what is the comfort value in eating 'chocolate coffee eggnog cake'?

Now I am not trying to pick on Michele, and I do hope her Thursday is infinitely better than yesterday. I can relate to her angst at being powerless: living in rural Pennsylvania, I put up with a number of black-outs each year, sometimes even in the dead of winter, I understand where she's coming from. And if Ring Dings and the like are her ticket to feeling better, I am happy for her.

I just read and hear people mention this 'comfort food' thing and I am trying to comprehend it. I eat when I am hungry. I eat when I want something tasty which often enough is anything but healthy (junk food). I don't get any particular 'comfort' out of one type food or other beyond taste and hunger abatement.

What am I missing here?

UPDATED: What a surprise! Not only has Michele, herself addressed my querey, but she asked her readers to opine. In appreication of their efforts, I will respond in kind.