In 1997, the Oxford Dictionary coined the term comfort food to mean Southern food… food that comforts us. The etymology of the term goes way back to an article published on The Washington Post in 1977 when it said that “Along with grits, one of the comfort foods of the South is black-eyed peas.” So, that is why we feel comforted when we dine in Lakeland restaurants that specialize in Southern cuisines?
But the author of the article said in 2013 that he really does not believe he coined that term because he has been using it since before 1977. It was his favorite “food descriptor.” The term was first used at least as early as 1966 when the Palm Beach Post used it in a story about obesity. It said that when adults are under extreme stress, they turn to “comfort food”—food associated with the security of childhood like your mother’s macaroni and cheese or your grandmother’s chicken soup and meatloaf. It brings memories about a time in your life when you have no worries and when all you have to do is play with your friends and siblings and go home to a kitchen smelling like warm chocolate chip cookies.
The concept of comfort food is ageless, though. Food does not only fuel our bodies. It fuels our minds and our souls. It brings about that comforting feeling we took for granted when we were kids and all we want is to “grow up” and “experience” the world. Here’s another way of looking at it, though: shift the focus from the food itself and simply focus on the feeling of “comfort.” The term calls to mind things that make us feel good such as ice cream, chocolates, cakes, French fries, chicken noodle soup, etc. In movies, when there’s a woman who’s feeling down, she would often be portrayed eating ice cream, donuts, and cakes.
So, whenever we do feel down and would like to feel better through food, we simply have to visit our favorite Lakeland restaurants while we’re growing up. Sure, even gourmet chefs have nothing on the way our grandmother would chop the potatoes, the chicken, and the carrots and stir them into a creamy pot of macaroni soup, but it’s as close as we’re getting. Unless we want our grandmas to make the effort to cook something for us. Surely, just because we had a bad day doesn’t mean our grandparents should slave at the kitchen? We can take comfort in knowing there are restaurants catering to our American comfort food for that.