Feel-good food

All of us have our worst moments when the world seems to be coming to an end. At a time like this, people respond in two ways. Some break down, lose sleep, lose appetite, and lose weight, withdrawing from people around them. There are others who do it the other way round — they seek the familiar, indulge, binge and spoil themselves silly in order to cope. This is when they turn to ‘comfort food'.

The term ‘comfort food' was first used in 1977, according to Webster's Dictionary . Since then it has taken on a host of meanings — different for different people. In a study done on comfort food, college students identified it in four categories — nostalgic foods, indulgence foods, convenience foods, and physical comfort foods.

In another study in the US, gender and age made a massive difference in the way consumers viewed comfort food. Men, for instance, preferred warm, hearty, meal-related comfort foods such as steak, casseroles, and soup, while women favoured the more snacking variety, specifically ice cream, pastry and chocolate. Age too made a big difference in preferences — younger people went for snack-related alternatives including burgers, wafers and crisps, while those over 55 years went for the homely, the familiar and hence comforting.

While the same study showed there were connections between consumption of comfort foods and feelings of guilt, there are others that have suggested that this is not necessarily so. A study had found that men consumed comfort food when they were in a positive state of mind, while women took to the indulgence when they felt down and out.

Except the last study, in all else comfort food has always been associated with indulgence during times of emotional stress. Some even attribute America's obesity epidemic to coping with stress and turning to comfort foods.

All in all, the bottom line is the same — it is food that modifies the mood, makes you feel better, revives the spirit or at least helps you to cope in the face of adversity.

But here is someone who has given ‘comfort foods' another dimension — taking off from the same concept, she has based her country's entire cuisine on it. For Chef Myrna Segismundo from the Philippines, who currently heads the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp subsidiary, TV Food Chefs Inc, comfort food simply means simple, nutritious food associated with homecoming and contentment.

In India recently to popularise food from the Philippines at a special food festival supported by Philippine Airlines and Philippine Tourism and being held at the Pan Asian restaurant at the Capital's WelcomHotel Sheraton, the Chef explained why her country's food came so close to the comfort food we all talk about.

For one, she said, it consisted of wholesome traditional family recipes where the flavours of home were the comforting factor that gave you the feelings of love, warmth, security. Second, the cuisine had been worked out to bring to people popular dishes of the region that the Filipinos had kept to themselves all these years. “We had so many expats and visitors telling us that they only get Philippine food in people's homes and we realised it was about time that we share our culinary heritage with the world and our younger generation,” said Chef Myra as she dished out three terribly unique dishes for us to sample.

The youngest in a family of twelve, Chef Myrna was always indulged and used to a table over-laden with good food. “We had the best cooking in our house and I grew up with my nanny in the kitchen a lot of the time,” she said, and naturally when she brought to the table the nostalgia of her dining table at home, she could not call it anything else but ‘comfort food'.

“These traditional recipes are being lost due to a hectic pace of life. I'm sure a lot of kids today have no idea how to cook Sinigang from scratch. I have nothing against instant mixes, but what I'd like is a return to roots, to find out how something is done, to re-introduce people to traditions,” says the celebrated Chef who is at the helm of Restaurant 9501, an exclusive corporate dining facility in Manila. The light-hearted chef is also editor-in-chief of the bimonthly magazine Foodie and author of two cookbooks on Philippine Cuisine — Home cooked Recipes Wherever You May Be . And very soon, she informs us, she will feature in another cooking show, comforting the audience with her creations, we are sure.

At the festival, however, she comforted us with several heart-warming dishes. She started with Sinigang, the soup with an Indonesian influence where tamarind was used as the souring agent. Then came the Lumpias, vegetable spring-rolls with a difference, as they were stuffed with palm hearts and served with an innovative caramelised sauce. The main dish — chicken and pork Adobo — had a unique combination of stewed chicken and pork in soya sauce, garlic and black pepper. Her rice noodles — Bihon Guisado — had an interesting flavour and so did the dessert — the banana -langka turrones (banana and jackfruit rolls).

Yes, you recognised it at once — this was comfort food at its best. Maybe its home- made wholesomeness gave it an added dimension. “For me in India, comfort food means dal , chaval and acchar ”, said the restaurant's young manager. For others as well it would be food they grew up with or food that they feel most comfortable with.

As it is for Filipino food, comfort food has only one rule — that it must wrap you in its warmth, mellow your mood and be a gastronomic equivalent of a big hug, a snug bed or a day with the one you love most.

COMMENT NOW