Liberal Arts Blog — The Joy of Eating (Part II) — Comfort Food

Liberal Arts Blog — Sunday is the Joy of Humor, Food, Travel, Practical Life Tips, and Miscellaneous Day

Today’s Topic — The Joy of Eating (Part Two) — Comfort Food (eg. mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, bread)

When you’re down and out of sorts, food can be a comfort. In different cultures, the go-to comfort foods vary. Today, I will share mine. They fall into (perhaps predictably) three categories. Please share your family favorites. This could be fun. Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.

PASTA — three variations on a theme

1. My early childhood favorite was macaroni and cheese. Over the last decade, I have polled students once or twice a year on their favorite comfort food. Mac and cheese usually wins by a plurality.

2. Later, spaghetti and meat sauce (“spag bol” the British call it) displaced mac and cheese.

3. When my second son turned vegetarian I developed a special fondness for “pasta and beans.”

POTATOES — mashed, fried, roasted

1. Mashed potatoes go with everything — from Thanksgiving turkey to steak to roast chicken. Peas and carrots taste better when mixed into mashed potatoes. And butter, of course, brings out the best in the potatoes themselves. As it does in so many things.

2. Sorry, but, be honest, who doesn’t love McDonald’s when they are fresh and piping hot? Yes, I’ve had better. But however fancy you better eat them quick.

3. Roasted potatoes with roasted vegetables are something I did not first appreciate. But I got there.

BREAD — can you beat freshly baked bread with butter? add jam? toasted?

1. Even regular packaged bread tastes great toasted with a layer of butter and jam. Especially, in the morning with fried eggs and bacon. Especially with homemade jam.

2. But then there is the freshly baked French baguette, boule, or country loaf. With home-made jam? or brie? gruyere? ham?

3. Can anyone resist Bertucci’s rolls? Have you ever been full before the appetizer even arrives?

YOUR TURN

So what are your thoughts on food? Fondest food memories? Favorite foods to eat or prepare? Anything miscellaneous to share from anywhere? Best trip you ever took in your life? Practical life tips? Random facts? Jokes?

This is your chance to make someone else’s day. Or to cement in your mind a memory that might otherwise disappear. Or to think more deeply about something dear to your heart. Continuity is key to depth of thought.