" Comfort Food: Recipes From The Heart "

“ Comfort Food: Recipes From The Heart “

08/07/12

To my very, very dearest friends, and ever-constant, loyal readers,

How many food, or, food-related (edible) items would you guess occupy the shelves of an average-sized, grocery store in America? Please keep in mind that this list does not include such items as paper plates, puppy kibble, light bulbs, or wrapping paper.

Would you guess 20,000; 40,000; 50,000?

I earlier placed a telephone call to a local (and, my favorite, by the way!) grocery store, and was referred to their corporate office for more exact figures.

Would you believe the approximate number of food, or food-related (edible) items is more like 84,000+ on any given day.

Of course—notwithstanding—probably fifty types of salad dressing, ten different kinds of mayonnaise (or better), frozen, canned, deli, or prepared foods, such as rotisserie chickens, and the like, that still represents a most daunting variety of brands, sized, types, flavors, additions, and tastes in a bewildering display, bound to dazzle and confuse, to both, ‘woo and to shoo’, prospective shoppers who—for the most part—really have NO time to idly muse-through the store, zigzagging across aisles, bumping into people with their carts, knocking over precarious displays so dangerously stacked along the way.

I think, for the most part, the average American grocery shopper is as hunted prey, overwhelmed by variety, hampered by a lack of time, AND, a negligent wallet; weighed down by screaming children (who want everything), or ‘shop-blocked’, by those who simply must read every word of every line printed on a package or can.

Although I am beginning to drift hopelessly off-topic, I must say that grocery shopping is probably one of the most labor-intensive activities—short of indentured servitude—ever contrived by the mind of Man.

There’s just too much to take in, and so little time to take it in with.  So, with so very, very much to choose from, I doubt that any one person could successfully sample even a one-hundredth of what’s available; in fact, I would tend to believe that—aside from the occasional brand, or product drift—the average shopper probably stays within about a one hundred, different items, purchased over the course of a year, with identical items purchased over and over again.

To a large extent, our shopping is governed by preference, either to a taste, or to a particular name brand.  Personally, I know I cannot abide stewed okra, or zucchini, for example, but oddly, I do like okra when it is breaded, and fried.

Then there are some people who would not even sit in the same room with a Brussels sprout…I, among them!

And while we often complain about the effects of overeating (Americans, by the way, taking the Olympic Gold in obesity, and obesity-related health problems), no one will deny the nutritional benefits of food, taken in proper proportions, and in a sufficient variety to maintain health.

However, food plays an integral part in our development as ‘social creatures’.  And, as part of that tacit, unspoken, social contract, the preparation, sharing, and the eating of food precedes written history.

For Neanderthal, I would imagine that pure survival depended more on always moving, stopping but seldom, always looking for food, or hunting for edible prey, than on reproduction; it—of course—goes quite without saying, that one cannot reproduce if one has starved to death!

And so, to a Society that had only the rudiments of oral language, the giving, and sharing of the kill was probably one of the very few times when Neanderthal could ‘relax’, as it were, and bond together as a tribal unit.

Thinking upon it, we are—in point of fact—not that much changed from those so long before, in that food still functions as a societal, ‘bonding-to-fellow tribe members’ act of preparing, and sharing, and being surrounded by those one loves.  And, trusts, hopefully!

How closely DOES the Present mimic the Past?  I give you the Saturday afternoon, picnic’BBQ’, where family, and friends gather together in a modern rendition of a tribal unit.  If there is an open grill (with, of course, the exception of ‘vegans’!), eyes, noses, brains turn to the ritual of slapping monstrous pieces of raw meat upon fire. Many of us actually salivate at the very thought.

And so, it is—perhaps—inevitable that out of these preparations, availability of, and presentations of food, that ‘comfort food’ would naturally evolve.  This, then, elevates food, beyond its being nutritious, past taste, even, to where just the particular food conjures up a recollection of this tribal bonding, and when successful, its ability to engender calmness, happiness, feelings of security, of plenty, and by itself, an active memory trace that recalls happy times.

I would dare imagine that the majority of us have fond ‘food’ memories, and favorite dishes, and particular meals, that evince in us something of a quiet joy.  Thus taken in an emotional sense, food is quite removed from its nutritive value, and—instead—makes us to feel cared for, accepted, loved, part of our own ‘tribe’.

Of course, when the result is excessive, or faulty thought processes, food—itself—equals love; during these, particular times, we eat—usually alone—for all the wrong reasons, until food-thought becomes an obsession, becomes bizarre, or pathologic.  Such as anorexia, bulimia, binge-eating, food-specific affective disorders, hoarding, over-eating, and, so on.

But in the usual course of events, as we develop and grow, experience the larger world around us, and the relative safety, and protection of a modern tribal unit, comfort foods are bound to occur, and do seem to evoke feelings of harmony, comfort, relaxation, acceptance, and, the ability to recreate, and have fun!

Most of us have—I would suspect—a list of ‘comfort foods’, which are as unique as is the individual.

‘Comfort foods’ can be any one food, or group of foods prepared in a particular fashion.  Please do keep in mind that I refer to these ‘foods’ for their ability to engender pleasure, and satisfaction, beyond that which individual preference and a full-stomach provide.

For example—for me—fresh-baked bread is a comfort food, as I recall—when I was very young—my mother baking bread ( always two loaves…one for us, and the other for a neighbor, or, someone who was ill), and how the smell filled the kitchen, and how glorious was the taste of it—still hot—slathered in butter!

Good, old, ‘mac-n-cheese’ is also a comfort food for me, but with a proviso: it must be the same recipe my dad used to make, though, in actuality, any good mac-n-cheese is still appreciated!

My question to you, my dearest friends, colleagues, and gentle, loyal readers is this:

What is, or are YOUR ‘comfort food(s)’?  Please feel quite free to list any particular food, or recipe that you prefer.  It can be a casserole, a single food, or dish, that you associate with happy times, not just those, that are taste-preferentially guided!

And, should you feel most strongly about a certain ‘comfort food’, please relate both the food, linked—where possible—to a particular time or event in your life. And if you would, kindly, please enter it to the ‘comment’ section, below.

As always, I thank you so very much for your most kind participation, and, please know I love you dearly!

‘Zahc’/Charles