They remind us of simpler, happier times and make us feel bettereven if only for a little while.
Here’s why we should all lean in harder and embrace our comfort-food cravings.
The word appeared over and over in newspaper articles I read earlier this year.
EatingWell Fellow Alex Loh with her Grandmother, Mary Loh.Design by Tyrel Stendahl
One story in a major media outlet used it twice in the same paragraph.
So I looked it up, and anthropologists use precarity to describe a persistent state of insecurity.
A once hale-and-hearty neighbor suddenly succumbed to cancer and we never got to say goodbye.
Cancer also defeated a 46-year-old cousin.
A heart attack likely took the life of a longtime friend.
Death seemed everywhere, and I took to the kitchen searching for strategies and solutions.
In reality, I had my mom and grandma in my mind.
I grew up watching, helping and eventually recording my mom’s recipes in some of mycookbooks.
Turns out I’m not alone in seeking nostalgic comfort foods.
EatingWell Fellow Alex Loh with her Grandmother, Mary Loh.Design by Tyrel Stendahl
The top reasons why comfort food attracts?
Recipes symbolize ritual, familial legacy and self.
Additionally, food can strongly evoke emotion, particularly through smells.
Sylvia Naimo, Grandmother of Juliet Izon, a food and travel writer.
Sight, sound and touch don’t traverse such direct paths to the brain.
Even the Parisian edition ofVogueagreesthat Grandma’s old-school cooking is rocking these days!
“Nostalgia is different.
Mama Sonia, the grandmother of EatingWell Digital Content Director, Penelope Wall.
Thinking back to positive memories is a coping mechanism and it promotes resilience in people.
You’re less likely to develop depression and anxiety.”
Grandmotherly love is special, as they get to spoil us rotten but never have to punish.
Andrea Ngyuen, teacher, food writer, chef, cookbook author and creator of vietworldkitchen.com, with her Mom and Dad at Vung Tau Beach in Vietnam; Portrait of Andrea’s maternal Grandmother, Doi Thi Kim Chu.Design by Tyrel Standahl
“The lovely thing about Grandma is Grandma was taught by her Grandma how to cook.
What about grandmothers that aren’t yours?
So is cooking like Grandma, even if she’s not related to you, healthy?
Design by Tyrel Stendahl
What are you making for dinner?
Who’s the cook in your family?
Do you hang out?”
Being refugees from Vietnam, our family heirlooms reflect our experience of coming to and settling in America.
Mom still cooks with some Farberware that she picked up in the 1970s.
With the brand’s iconic curves, the pots and pans charmed.
There are only 4 pieces (excluding lids), and they’re all super-useful sizes and shapes.
Through regular usage, my husband and I were surprised by how well the pans performed.
Moreover, their appearance in our kitchen put smiles on our faces.
With very little, she had hope back then as now.
She reminded me to remain hopeful too.
That’s a key to surviving precarity.
