VIP Class Notes (Vicki)

Vocabulary

comfort food – the type of food that you eat when you are upset
i.e. Fried chicken is my comfort food.

tuck into – hu chi hai sai
i.e. In winter, I just want to tuck into the hotpot.

homesick – missing home
i.e. When we are homesick, food helps us to feel at home again.

edible – can be eaten
i.e. This food is not good but it’s edible.

palate – kou wei
i.e. I have a sweet palate.

chill (v.) – becoming cold
i.e. As the weather chills, we start to wear more clothes.

culinary – proper cooking
i.e. I want to go to culinary school.

ingredient – the things inside a food
i.e. I always read what’s in the ingredients of the food.

guilty – ashamed
i.e. I feel guilty that I lied to you.

trigger – cause / lead to
i.e. I don’t want to trigger your pain.

stress-eater – eat when stressed
i.e. I am a stress-eater.

Warning! This article could be bad for your health! As many of us endure the long, cold winter, we are tempted to tuck into some filling and fattening foods. This is sometimes because it helps us to keep warm and to give us energy, but often it’s because we need something to cheer us up. And, for a short while at least, it makes us feel better – which is why we call it ‘comfort food’.

The type of food that makes us feel good varies from person to person – it depends on your palate and the association you have with particular tastes, textures and smells. But probably the most universally popular edible comforter is the biscuit. It’s thought this go-to snack often brings back happy memories of childhood and family, as well as giving us that all-important sugary pick-me-up.

Moving on from the sweet and sugary snacks, famous chef and food writer Mary Berry knows about the kind of meals that warm us up and give us comfort in the winter. She told BBC Food magazine: “I think it becomes natural to think about comfort food as soon as the weather chills and the nights become darker.” She suggests soup and warming foods as feel-good winter treats.

The other thing about comforting dishes like mac and cheese, noodles or pizza is they don’t require culinary skills in the kitchen; they are easy to make so you can get your fix of feel-good food quickly. However, we often feel so good that we eat too much, and even though we know the ingredients are high in carbohydrates, sugar or salt, we continue to pig out. Psychologist Shira Gabriel told the BBC: “We feel guilty because we don’t realise that what’s happening is our minds [are] finding a way to trigger a really positive emotion and they’re making us eat that food to do so.”

Maybe we should take comfort from the fact that eating certain food just makes us feel happy. But, for some people, eating any kind of food brings joy, warmth, happiness and comfort.