What is your comfort food?
Now, as the season turns to occasions traditionally focused on food, we have a question that our responders answered with glee. I wondered how many duplicate food choices we might see in the group (not much) and how many would choose my favorite, French fries (no one). I learned about food I’ve never heard of and other options that I’d like to try right away. You may be warned not to read this column on an empty stomach.
In this column, adopted from the familiar “Heard on the Street” format, we offer our responders a chance to answer the question posed in the title. These are their replies reported verbatim.
Health Food vs. Soul Food
My doctor will probably frown upon this answer but my comfort food is a chicken fried steak (or chicken) with mashed potatoes. Gravy (white) on the side and a side of broccoli since I’m trying to be healthy =)
Sam Fung
McKinney, Texas
Pizza – always Pizza but as fall approaches and there is a chill in the air, there is nothing I love more than tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. It warms the Body – heart and soul J
Judy Taranovich
Proctor, Vermont
My comfort food fluctuates. If I’m sitting down to a meal then it’s fried chicken and mashed potatoes. Road trip snacks are usually a combination of unhealthy treats that my Dad got me hooked on, including beef jerky, Doritos and candy bars. Such an unhealthy combination, but so tasty!
Jason Soulon
Shawnee, Kansas
My comfort food is a chocolate frosted donut in the morning with a cup of coffee. I don’t have that every day, but I would never turn it down, either. I’ll typically eat that donut first thing in the morning and then later that morning have a healthier breakfast.
Bruce Swiecicki
National Propane Gas Association
Tinley Park, Illinois
My Midwest background might be showing a little bit on this answer. Comfort food: In our area we call it funeral hotdish. A hotdish with hamburger and chow mien noodles and veggies, etc. The ladies in our church would make a huge batch of it. Then everyone who attended the funeral is invited to the church basement for the comfort food (along with GREAT homemade desserts) after the funeral. After very sad times, eating together with a group of people gives comfort along with the fantastic homemade food. To this day, it still gives me a warm feeling when I see that special hotdish
Susan Peterson
Bird Island, Minnesota
I joke that my love language is food. Making food for people is a big part of how I show up for and love people. My go-to meal, when I want to comfort others, is an herb crusted pork tenderloin, roasted root vegetables, and homemade applesauce, with some kind of brownie or cookie dessert. When I make myself comfort food, I usually go for spaghetti and homemade meatballs or this old chicken divan casserole that my mom made when I was a kid.
Lauren Clark
Toledo, Ohio
Buttered movie-style popcorn, vanilla cream-filled anything almost, bananas, and Oreo cookies.
Richard Strycharz, Jr.
Walter’s Propane
Sunderland, Massachusetts
Wait! All food isn’t comfort food? If I have to pick just a couple, it would be potato soup, my mom’s spaghetti recipe, or a big bowl of ice cream and Oreo cookies! I’ll stop there because the list would get pretty long!
Tonya Crow
Bloomington, Illinois
I have never met a baked good that I didn’t like. For me, there is nothing better than a chocolate chip cookie, which has proven time and again to be the best and most reliable comfort food. As stated in a card I gave someone many years ago… ‘When things are bad and getting worse, keep a cookie in your purse!’
Jessica Johnson
Asheville, North Carolina
My comfort food is chocolate! I am particularly fond of dark chocolate candy, cake, and cookies. I have learned, however, in recent years, to eat all of this in moderation!
Rosie Buschur
Dayton, Ohio
For the last couple of years, I have begun to make my own salsa and more recently 5-layer dip. This combination with tortilla chips has become my comfort food. It works during football games, for a quick afternoon or evening snack and to bridge the gap to the next meal. It has become my comfort food till it gets old and I come up with a new one.
Tom Krupa
Richmond, Virginia
For me, comfort food is seasonal. In the winter, I like a great chili but I love homemade ham and beans. I make them once a year in January using the Honey Baked Ham bone from Christmas, with a lot of ham left on it. My mom’s side of the family were from the south and they would have ham and beans frequently, so I got my start there.
Year-round go-to comfort food has to be pizza. I love thin crust St. Louis style pizza the best but I have begun to appreciate the Chicago deep dish too.
Boyd H. McGathey
Parkville, Missouri
PIZZA! All types, on any day of the week! Living in Rhode Island, which has a large Italian population, and a section in Providence called Federal Hill, I have access to some very special pizza restaurants. However, when I travel, I absolutely look for pizza, since it’s part of my weekly meal planning, and have discovered some exceptional pizza pie establishments in Chicago, Detroit, Boston (North End) and especially New York!
Jerry Schimmel
Cumberland, Rhode Island
After eating salads all summer I am ready for a change. My favorite comfort food is soup, I have several favorites. One of the best dishes is our hybrid gumbo-jambalaya. I don’t remember when this mashup happened, but it is a crowd-pleaser.
Julie Johnson
Baldwin Park, California
Ice Cream! You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream! I absolutely love everything about it. The cold creamy way it feels in my mouth and the sweetness definitely make it my comfort food! My all-time favorite is Hagen Daz coffee. I actually have favorites in different brands as well. I even make a delicious homemade lemon sherbet. You might say I’m a connoisseur of ice cream.
Paula Moore
Blackburn Propane Service, Inc.
Durant, Oklahoma
Comforting ourselves
Hot, cold, smooth, layered, or crusty with cheese on top? Sweet, savory, or both? The times we reach for our comfort foods are times we are being extra generous to ourselves just because we deserve it (or for other self-soothing reasons). Life has plenty of challenges—let’s enjoy those little pleasures along the way.
This column was first published in Butane-Propane News in November 2023.