Oh Comfort Me

The results are in. Thank you to everyone who participated in my top ten comfort foods survey. The winner is...Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. Honorable mention goes out to mashed potatoes and the grilled cheese/tomato soup combination. Please note there was a tie between homemade tomato soup and Campbell’s.

Many contributors wanted to know if beverages counted. Yes. I had been thinking about that while listening to The Splendid Table. There was a segment on a town in Italy where wine is always served in bowls because it's considered a food not a beverage. This answered the question for me.

For ease of viewing, I have broken the nominations into the following categories: breakfast, soups and sandwiches, main dishes, side dishes, desserts, beverages and other, for the those hard to place cravings.

Breakfast: biscuits and gravy, corned beef hash and eggs, Egg McMuffin, grits, hash browns, oatmeal, poached eggs with cheese on an English muffin, waffle with an over easy egg on it

Soups and sandwiches: arroz caldo, chicken and rice soup, chicken noodle soup, clam chowder, chowder in general, french onion soup, grilled cheese sandwich (some classic, some with chutney), peanut butter on a toasted english muffin, pho, potato soup, Rueben sandwich, split pea soup, tomato soup (both homemade and Campbell's), turkey sandwich made with Thanksgiving leftovers, veggie burger with chipotle mayo

Main dishes: chicken adobo, chicken and dumplings, chili over rice or corn bread, corned beef hash with bbq sauce and Parmesan cheese on top, enchiladas, filet mignon, fish sticks, fried chicken, General Tso's chicken, macaroni and cheese (both Kraft and homemade), noodle casseroles, pasta, pizza (regular and frozen), quesadilla with green chiles, sesame noodles with peanut sauce, sushi, tacos, white trash casseroles with made with cream of mushroom soup

Side dishes:baba ganoush and pita, baked potato w/toppings, bread and cheese, carrot sticks, cheese fries, Cobb salad, collard greens, cornbread, crispy eggplant, fries with tartar sauce, fries with mayo, green apples,pear/walnut/blue cheese salad, mashed potatoes, rice with black beans, salt and vinegar potato chips, tator tots

Dessert: banana split with hot fudge and toasted almonds, brownies, chocolate, Chubby Hubby Ben and Jerry's ice cream, Chuckles Candy, Coffee Crisp candy bar, cookies, doughnuts, ice cream (any kind),Hostess Sno-balls, Mexican chocolate and coffee milkshake, M & M's, peanut butter cups, pumpkin pie

Beverages: beer in general, English tea, Green River Soda, Guinness, hot chocolate Jarrito’s Lime Soda, Mirror Pond Pale Ale, peppermint tea, wine

Other: hollandaise sauce, peanut sauce

There's a lot of food on this consolidated list that really surprised me and got me thinking about what comfort means to different people. The only common thread I can see is how specific cravings are. Participants in my survey included the brands of the foods, the restaurants they needed to be eaten at, and the mood they needed to be in when they ate it. I'm sorry to not have included some of the specfics.

Interesting Facts:

Women had longer comfort foods lists than men and their lists were less sweet.

My own personal list only includes foods that are white, yellow, orange and tan.

Chicken appears to be more comforting than beef.

There's not a lot of contemporary cuisine on this list. There is a clear connection between comfort food and childhood, either foods we ate as children, or would have if our parents had let us.

Evel Knievel endorsed Chuckles Candy. It didn't ring a bell for me until I looked at the packaging. Now it seems familiar, like something that was sold in movie theaters in the 1970's.





Lists_,Bon Appetit_