Authors E-Mail: pattycakes@i-manila.com.ph

Do you ever feel just not up to eating at times? Not anoxeric or anything of that sort but just tired of the food you see everyday? I know I do. Cooking at least four meals a day, everyday of your life is no joke. Try it for a week and tell me about it. Even if I make a menu for the whole month, sometimes I just look for something else to eat. I’d skip dinner for a bag of freshly-popped popcorn with a light spray of butter. On other times, a beautifully grilled cheese sandwich can make my day. Call it what you want, but at some point in time we fall back to something that gives us great comfort.

What is comfort food?

   Comfort food is anything from a warm cup of chicken soup, freshly baked banana walnut bread to a great recipe of pot roast. This is food for the soul that can keep us alive and get us through a bad day. In this day and age of busy work schedules and fast-paced life, we can’t avoid getting some “low points” in our day. And with that heavy feeling the cure can only be found in a little comfort, a little relief, and a few moments of indulgence.

   Comfort food is soul-satisfying because it connects us with thoughts and memories of special times and special people. There goes the tag that “just like how Mom used to make them.” Or I would fall back to popcorn made at home because it reminds me how my Dad and I enjoyed these moments together. Food prepared by yourself or others with love, though simple, bring back great times and ultimate enjoyment. Food that is as warm and safe as home. That’s what comfort food is all about.

Chicken Soup for the Soul

   Just like the title of the bestseller book series, chicken soup has really become so popular as a cure-all for most ailments. Haven’t you noticed that when you have a cold that the first thing that you reach for in the kitchen is a hot bowl of chicken soup? The moment you sip on that broth, the congestion seems to clear up almost instantly. Our local version of that hot bowl of chicken soup could very well be what we call Arroz Caldo or pospas. We all think that the relief comes from the steam of the soup but look again. Some researches in Mount Sinai Hospital in Miami, Florida found out that there is more to chicken soup that meets the eye. In a controlled experiment they conducted, it has been found that the “chicken soup contains compounds that seem to block the movement of inflammation-causing white blood cells into the windpipe.” Although it still remains a mystery how these substances work, it is a known fact that they help protect the sinus membranes. And it works great for asthma too. I should know, I am asthmatic.

   You could not imagine how difficult it is to breathe at the height of your attack. The congestion is like having a hollow block pressing on your chest. And the violent cough makes your back hurt so bad that you can’t help but cry at times. And at this time of great pain and depression, you just wish that there would be something other than pills to make you feel better, something to break the contemptuous feeling of helplessness. And it is this very feeling that breaks the soul. That is why we have chicken soup for the soul, something to heal us from the inside out.

Making It Special

   What really makes comfort food so popular these days is the escape it provides for us to get out of the humdrum of our lives. At our lowest point, when there’s nobody to give you a hug, say a kind word, and make you feel better, remember, there’s always your favorite food. Just knowing that slouching on the couch with a bowl of Mom’s pot roast can bring satisfaction you can’t describe. What more if you were sure knew that the meal was made out of love? Call it mushy and sentimental, but comfort foods do elicit in us a sense of security that is hard to replace. When it makes us feel safe, it gives us comfort and joy, then happiness abounds.

   Sometimes, though, what works for other people is not necessarily something hot. A tall, cold glass of fresh lemonade is my female friend’s cure for a bad day at the office. She says it is as refreshing as the summer breeze of their old house in Calatagan. It must be the memory of the ancestral home that makes that glass so good. Why don’t we try it?

GREAT LEMONADE

1 Cup Water
1 ½ TBSPS. Lemon Juice
3-4 TBSPS. Sugar
1/8 TSP. Salt

   Boil the sugar and water for two minutes.
Chill the syrup then add the lemon juice.
The water and the sugar need not be boiled but the quality of the lemonade is improved by this.
Orange, pineapple, and other fruit juices may be added to the lemonade for a twist in flavor.
Chilled tea added to these fruit combinations, about 1/3 cup for every cup of juice, gives lemonades an invigorating lift.

GRANDMA’S CHICKEN SOUP

1.5 kgs of Chicken pieces
1 large onion, slivered
Just enough water to cover chicken
3 stalks celery (optional)
3 medium carrots
4 sprigs parsley
2 tsps. Salt

   In a large pot combine chicken and onions. Add water. Bring just to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer on medium heat for about an hour.
Add celery, carrots, parsley, and salt.
Cook on low heat for 2 hours or until chicken is tender an falling off the bone.
Strain the soup through a colander. Reserve meat for another use. Skim off fat before serving.
Serve broth alone with noodles, rice or crackers and eat to your heart’s content. Makes about 5 cups.

   I hope that the recipes that I have shared from my compilation would bring some comfort and joy to your homes as it did mine. So as I always say, the Home’s heart is the kitchen, eat healthy, be wise and live long!