What's YOUR stress/comfort food? - Democratic Underground

SoCalDem

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Sun Jul-17-05 07:24 PM
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What's YOUR stress/comfort food?

Edited on Sun Jul-17-05 07:26 PM by SoCalDem

Not a new article, but interesting...

What's YOUR stress/comfort food? Something that , if it would magically appear, you would devour, with your hands if neccessary..

I guess mine would be ..in no particular order:

real chicken fried steak, white gravy & mashed potatoes
grilled white corn on the cob
old fashioned cotton candy
chocolate meringue pie
my grandmother's paper-thin sugar cookies

of course, eaten together, I would be in a carb-coma:)

http://ccdsf.com/trendcornerjan2.html

Stress plays a role in our desire for comfort foods. Based on a recent national survey of comfort foods by KFC Corporation...

Stressful times enhance cravings for comfort food. 73% said stress made them most likely to turn to comfort food, more than celebration (38%), bad weather (33%), relationship problems (28%), and tragedy (20%).

When asked what best describes the emotional gratification consumers get from comfort foods, they cited the following:

50%--Gives me a good feeling so I can carry on

38%--Takes my mind off the problem

27%--Reminds me of good times
in the past

18%--Makes me feel safe

9%--Reminds me of Mom

....
Thus, comfort food sales are booming:

America's post 9/11 sales winners:

Ice cream, especially gourmet treats like profiteroles and eclairs.

Campbell¹s, Progressive Soups.

Boston Market frozen comfort foods.

Polenta, Noodle bowls, Pasta dishes.

Peanut butter, pancake mix,

Cheese fries, fast foods.

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Whoever said food doesn't equal love
doesn't have the right person cooking.

Ahh, here we are again, snuggled deep into the food lover's season of greatest content. As we have since babyhood, we loosen our belts for the annual high eating season in late November with a full month of passionately unbridled holiday indulgences. This lasts until January's long winter nights at home, where we find soul warming retreat in the pleasures of our lifelong favorite foods.
Comfort foods are the perennial, ever-lasting food trend. Whatever nurtured you best as a child tends to become something of a lifetime security blanket. Slow cooking is usually part of it. A large piece of meat is often involved. And most important to note is that it is more than the taste and texture which defines these foods. It is also the proof that somebody loves us, because they spent all that time and effort in the kitchen, just for us.

Winter was surely made for comfort foods, and this year is no exception. Following that grievous day in September, our nation took refuge in new, kinder kind of war rations. Sales climbed for all things comfort: sugar, fat, ice cream, peanut butter, soup, meat loaf, anything that could take us back to a safer time and place, proving, thanks to our razor sharp sensory food-triggered memories, that happy days did indeed exist back then.

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