The energy-dense, fatty and ultra-sweet food that we always binge in are called comfort food. Most people call it by that name because it gives us that pleasurable feeling that makes us feel a lot better after we finish eating.
People call particular food that makes them feel better emotionally that they feel sentimental and nostalgic as comfort food, might as well dig deeper into this by knowing the reason why people love comfort food from food network host jamie oliver’s “homestyle dinner recipes”.
- Makes You Feel Good- Although eating fatty, sugary and salty foods might be too unhealthy for us to be eaten on a daily basis but, most comfort foods have this kind of ingredients on it. These ingredients are responsible for our brain to activate its reward system. The best example would be chocolates that strongly affects a person’s mood generally a person’s very pleasant and positive feeling and reduces tension. These highly palatable foods like cakes, ice creams, burgers, and pizzas
- Serves As Self-Medication- unhealthy foods and emotions have some connection between them, and this is usually called emotional eating or stress eating. If people are feeling down or drawn to unhealthy foods like sugary and fatty foods, it serves as their coping mechanism. In contrast, people who have a positive mood would likely eat healthy foods, but a study found in 2015 that comfort foods make people’s feeling better turning negative mood to positive compared to not eating comfort food at all, and that explains why people would self-medicate by eating their favorite food to make themselves feel better.
- Sense Of Belongingness- the food that we love to eat have a strong connection to our family, our friends, and the occasions that we share it with them like christmas or thanksgiving. If you feel lonely or distant from your family, eating the food that you usually share together gives you comfort and belongingness. Comfort food has the ability to manipulate our mind to shift our attention by bringing back fond memories of your family or certain occasion that feels nostalgic while you are munching on that double cheeseburger.
- Nostalgic Feeling- You Feel Nostalgic if you visit a place that you have been into before, or you listened to your favorite childhood song, but food can also bring back a lot of memories as well especially its taste and its scent. The smell of comfort foods brings back detailed emotional events from your past. You might notice that the smell of a freshly baked apple pie from a bakery that you passed by have the same smell that your mom baked in your house, and this produces strong emotional feeling and connection.
· Special Occasions- of course there are a lot of occasions in a year and most of the time, our family prepares nothing but the most delicious foods, which most of them are sinful and unhealthy, but there is no excuse for us not to eat it especially if you are well aware that this is the only time that you can enjoy this kind of food because it is only cooked in special occasions like this. Comfort foods are the food that is cooked on special occasions that is why people loves it because they felt in every bite that occasion where each of their loved ones is present and happy.
