A row of steaming spaghetti dipped in tomato rolled up on a fork, risotto with pumpkin that prepared grandfather, pizza, meatloaf, pasta and beans or a nice ice cream filled with strawberries.
Comfort food is the food of the heart . It is about that food of which, in certain situations, the human being has a desperate need, to console himself, to feel good and receive comfort, to feel deeply and intimately satisfied.
It was almost necessary to reconnect atomically and viscerally to that ancient sensation of clinging to the mother's breast!
Why do we need comfort food?
The definition of comfort food appeared for the first time in the United States in 1977 as the lemma of a dictionary, to indicate that bite that instills in those who eat it a nostalgic feeling, a warmth that fills the heart, a particular emotion, often linked to childhood memories that are able to cradle and make the individual perceive in total harmony with the universe.
All this was well known to the French writer Proust, who brought back to the surface, thanks to the famous madeleine drenched in tea, his best memories.
And if for Americans the comford food can be a cheeseburger to be heated in the microwave and eat in front of the TV, or a milk shake, fried chicken or chips, for an Italian it can simply also be a nice plate of pasta with turnip tops . And why not a nice fish and chip rolled into the paper for the British?
We eat with the heart out of affection, because we need to fill, thanks to the memory that springs from the papillae and smell, a certain emptiness, which is not always only of the stomach; and still you get to dinner with the desire for a special food because the day was heavy and has caused moments of great discomfort that you need to compensate; because you are going through a difficult time, to counter and drive away bad thoughts and also because of the economic crisis and stress.
Clearly everyone has their own research reasons and their own comfort food and obviously they shouldn't abuse it, otherwise it's just that their magic would be lost there.
Here are 5 foods to restore good humor
And you know what comfort food are you?
Having rejected the most banal comfort food, the nutella, let us try to penetrate the depths of our culinary memories to really understand where our stomach pampers. Let's go back in time, let's experiment and try again and again to find that perfect taste.
Fortunately, the Italian culinary tradition goes fishing among genuine foods, often simple, like those that our grandmothers used to make. Ravioli, lasagne, meatballs, roast potatoes, rolls or hot vegetable soups. So let's dust off the old recipes, let's investigate!
There is no shame even if for some people, since the mother was not so good at cooking, comfort food turns out to be a simple white rice with cheese or a porridge with tomato, or even the pasta you ate from small. And who knows how many found themselves wanting a simple slice of bread, oil and salt!
What every person is looking for in food is much more than nourishment itself : it is something that is closely connected to the biological characteristics of each one, it depends on the metabolism, on the character, on the individual pedispositions, on the mood but not only.
Factors such as the value and meaning that food has assumed in our personal history also come into play, starting from the cradle to the present, as well as the desire for exploration knowledge; nevertheless the cultural and communicative values, often dictated by the mass or by the fashions of the moment, are important. In essence , food is perhaps the truest expression of what we are .
Reference book : " Comfort Foodie, pamper yourself by eating ", by Ilaria Mazzarotta.
