By Michaela Steil
Based on what the internet says, I have had the wrong definition of comfort food in my mind for a really long time. To me, comfort food was always any kind of food that was very filling and worthy of a craving; you know the kind of food I’m talking about: pizza, pasta, french fries, and so on. So I guess in my mind it was also a lot of carbs or sugar. Oops.
In actuality, while comfort foods are meant to provide comfort (obviously) they are also usually reminiscent of childhood or home cooking.
Jerk chicken from Island Soul at East Side Dining.
Personally, I think there are two types of comfort foods. There are those that are associated with childhood and in turn provide comfort through nostalgia, but I also think there are foods that provide comfort just because they taste really good and in turn makes you feel better.
Subsequently, there are two different types of “comfort” provided by these foods. When eating foods associated with your childhood (or your home, if you are out of state like me) it makes you feel less lonely and provides solace in that sense. When eating those sugars and carbs in the other comfort food, it makes you feel better because of the indulgence; the idea that you treated yourself and ate something you don’t eat on a daily basis, or that is rare for you to eat because you know, ideally, you shouldn’t be eating it that often.
Comfort food is irresistible, if not for the taste, but then for the feelings that accompany it.
Italian fusion food from Roth Cafe.
Is there actually a science behind comfort food, though? Biologically speaking there is a large tie between scent and memory because of the brain. Memories that are linked with scent are far stronger and vivid, but why? While other senses go to the thalamus in the brain, scents are able to bypass this and go directly to the olfactory bulb, which analyzes smells. The olfactory bulb, in turn, is connected to the amygdala and the hippocampus, which control emotion and memory, respectively.
So maybe it isn’t the food itself that is so great, but rather how we feel after eating it. Either way, the end result is pretty great.
Thanksgiving has passed, which really is possibly the epitome of overindulgence in comfort food, but that also means that finals are coming up. I don’t want to be the one to remind everyone because I’m trying to avoid them as well, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. National Comfort Food Day is on December 5th! It may be pre-finals (finals are December 12th to 20th) but it is during the days of cramming and trying to study.
So if you want a reason to stress eat or are in the need of comfort food, or just want to rationalize it as I do– here is your excuse!
What’s your favorite comfort food??? Leave me a comment below 🙂
Sources:
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/04/why-comfort-food-comforts/389613/
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/08/06/smells-trigger-memories.aspx
http://time.com/3975676/comfort-food-cravings/
http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/d/d_07/d_07_cr/d_07_cr_tra/d_07_cr_tra.html
