Comfort food always calls my name when I am anxious or unsettled. The presidential election has me wanting to grab everything that screams comfort and cram it down my mouth. Right now, I don’t care whether the grease clogs my arteries or makes me keel over from obesity. I just need some love.

According to Merriam-Webster, comfort food is food prepared in a traditional style having a usually nostalgic or sentimental appeal.

And what contents me won’t gratify someone else. People worldwide have different dishes from their childhood that bring a feeling of well-being. The French crave beef bourguignon and French onion soup while Canadians crave poutine, French fries topped with cheese curds and drenched in gravy. The Poles love pierogis, boiled dumplings filled with potatoes and cheese curds. Matzo ball soup makes the Israelis sigh with delight.

SCIENCE BEHIND COMFORT FOOD

Our brains want us to eat. If we don’t, we will die. So, when we eat, we are rewarded with a dose of opioid-based chemicals that make us feel good. Carbohydrates increase our levels of serotonin, making us happy. That’s why many foods that soothe us are full of sugar and fat.

The other factor that kicks in is our fondness for dishes associated with the people in our childhood who cared for us, especially when we are lonely.

EARLIEST COMFORT FOOD MEMORIES

Let me take you back to Baytown, Texas in the early 1950s. Our little house on Live Oak Street did not have air conditioning until we were older, and only the living room was chilled. We ate our meals in the kitchen; the dining room reserved for company only.

My brother, Ted, who is 18 months younger than myself, and I sat at a small kids’ table while my parents dined at the yellow Formica-topped one.

Our dinners consisted of spaghetti and meatballs, pancakes and bacon, fried chicken, and pigs in a blanket.

We topped our pancakes with brown sugar rather than syrup. Regarding the chicken, Mother gave me the wing and my brother the drumstick.

What I crave right now is the chicken gravy my mother would make. After frying the chicken, she’d stir in flour and milk, covering it with solid portions of salt and pepper. No runny gravy. No siree. All the grease and the flecks of fried chicken batter blended into the mixture and cooked until thick enough to pile high atop a piece of white bread. To me, this was better than the chicken.

Her recipes came from a long tradition of southern cooks. My grandmother grew up in Northern Alabama and then, during the Great Depression, the family was displaced by the Tennessee Valley Authority and moved to Tennessee. My parents moved to Texas circa 1950.

COMFORT FOOD DESSERTS

Now, I admit to a voracious sweet tooth. The desserts my mother prepared were Eagle Brand Lemon Cream Pie, chocolate chip cookies that my dad ate slathered in butter, homemade chocolate candy, and fudge pie.

Ice cream was essential. Again, I thought pie and ice cream went together. You can eat naked pie? And cheese on top of apple pie? Who knew?

Enjoy my mother’s fudge pie recipe. It is basically a big brownie. For you youngsters, oleo is margarine. Use butter when baking. And, if possible, top with Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream.