Why does cold weather bring on comfort food cravings?

WHEN it is wintertime, we find ourselves drawn to bowls of pasta, puddings, soups, and hot chocolate with marshmallows. These and other comfort foods can make us feel good. But why?

First things first, what is comfort food?

While comfort food can mean something different to everyone, it tends to be food prepared in traditional style (aka homemade) that is often high in fat, sugar, and calories, with a nostalgic or sentimental appeal like mashed potatoes, pasta, and sweets.

The reason behind comfort food cravings is not just you hitting up comfort foods during winter. People reach for comfort foods for a host of reasons beyond mere hunger, such as food-centred seasonal holidays, changes in hormones (cravings), seasonality of foods, and warmth.

We crave comfort foods in the winter months because we know they make us feel good. There is absolutely nothing wrong with trying to up our moods, and if you know that food can help you to do that then why not go to town in the wintertime?

The temptation to eat filling, starchy food could be rooted in the weather itself. Eating hearty root vegetables such as potatoes, parsnips, squashes, and carrots during winter is simply a reflection of these vegetables being in season at this time of year, and thus more abundant. Whilst it is possible to get these foods all year round, this may be a hang-on of an earlier time when eating habits were more dictated by seasonality. So, our bodies are geared to consume these root vegetables in winter, and leafy salad greens in summer, the times of the year when these foods will first have been harvested and available for consumption.

Thirdly, our culture associates rich food with winter. Even though there are biological reasons why we may crave more food in winter, part of this tendency is psychological, too, and deeply rooted in our culture. From childhood, we are taught to associate winter with heavy, rich dishes rather than with salads and other lighter dishes.

If you are wanting recipes for winter, go with things like soups, stews, or lean meats like chicken and fish. When you select comfort food, try tweaking the recipe a bit. For example, if you are craving french fries, bake them instead. Or change out the butter and cream for nonfat milk and olive oil in mashed potatoes.

Even favourites like chilli can get a healthy upgrade by using shredded chicken or sweet potatoes as the base.

DURING winter, many of us find ourselves drawn to bowls of soups. | NAVADA RA Pexels