RITUALS OF HOME AND HERITAGE

PHOTO COURTESY OF PEDRO MARTIN

Comfort food nurtures more than the body

By Heather Hamilton-Post

Like a favorite playlist or a well-worn sweatshirt, comfort food settles neatly into the familiar winter warmth of a broader nostalgia. Indeed, it is a global phenomenon, a seeking of emotional solace by way of a full tummy, especially as we amble toward the holiday season. From traditional ingredients to trusted family recipes, the food we crave is both universal and specific.

Pedro Martinez, private chef and owner of Idaho Provisions, speculates that comfort food likely originates from necessity, evolving to hold the title only after it is no longer so essential or so accessible, creating a yearning for simpler times, foods, and traditions. Often, our comfort foods are passed down, ostensibly inherited like baldness and blue eyes.

He’s right, of course. Historically, foods that were filling and easy to make gained popularity during challenging times like wars or other economic hardship because they offered sustenance, which also translated to emotional relief. Depending on food availability, climate, and the particular staples of a region, these foods were quite different. In Western cultures, this was, in part, casseroles and soups. Across Asia, warm broths and rice dishes soothed families. Now, we see traditional dishes blended with modern ingredients—comfort food made new.

For Martinez, that comfort food is braised chicken with molé negro, rice, and fresh made corn tortillas, which reminds him of his mother's unconditional love.

For Soraya Mazloomi, bread slinger at Acme Bakeshop, comfort food is pot roast with mashed potatoes, gravy, and snow peas, made by her grandmother when her family would gather for a weekly meal, the peas fresh from the garden.

“My grandma helped raise us and I miss her so much,” Mazloomi added.

This shift from food to family and memory happens naturally for Mazloomi, as it does for all of us.

“In my culture, during Dia de los Muertos, we honor our ancestors by practicing various traditions, one of which is to set out their favorite foods to comfort them when they return home. The day we stop practicing this tradition is the day they truly die as there is no one to remember and honor them,” explained Martinez.

“Food can facilitate a magical experience that will transport you back in time to revisit parts of your psyche that would have otherwise been forgotten.”

Comfort food is both a remembrance and a salve. The term itself suggests a reprieve from stress, illness, homesickness, and grief. And it is more than perception—research suggests that the typically higher carbohydrate and fat content of comfort foods increase mood through the release of serotonin, stimulating positive emotions and reducing feelings of loneliness.

These foods create a global sense of belonging, in part because, as Mazloomi explained, part of the ethos is the sharing of it. “Food brings people together. It's a shared biological need, but it's also the love and care put into it. It is an act of deliberate care,” she said.

Martinez agrees, and believes that comfort food can serve as a tangible reminder of where we come from—our humble beginnings, where things were perhaps slower paced and more intentional.

“Without revisiting those dishes, those memories are lost to time,” said Martinez. “Comfort food and unconditional love is what we all need as humans. They are one in the same.”