Do a little research and you will find that the term “comfort food” was added to Webster’s Dictionary in 1972. It refers to foods that are typically inexpensive, uncomplicated, and require little or no preparation at all; foods which usually bring pleasant associations with childhood, just as an old song can remind one of a long ago romance, or a smell can instantly bring back situations both good and bad.
Comfort foods vary from culture to culture, but in our country usually include things like macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, fried chicken, ice cream, peanut butter, and brownies. Folks tend to use comfort foods to provide familiarity and emotional security, or to reward themselves. It’s not surprising that many of these are loaded with carbohydrates which can produce a soporific effect as well. Comfort food followed closely by the comfort of sleep.
Since it became fashionable I have tried to figure out my own list of comfort foods. Here is my problem: my mother was such a good cook and so adventurous, trying many recipes day after day, that I never had one dish often enough to form an attachment to it. One cooking magazine actually runs the column, “My Mother’s Best Meal.” I could not possibly pick one. I would need a whole page to list them. So for me it isn’t comfort food, it’s comfort cooking. When my mind is in turmoil, I cook all day long, trying, I suppose, to recreate the warm, homey, safe atmosphere of my mother’s kitchen.
Comfort food works for the soul too. The best part is, you don’t have to be a good cook. You just open the word of God and feast. You turn on the water of life and drink to your heart’s content. You produce the fruit of the lips in praise to God whenever and wherever you desire. You gather with your brothers and sisters and wallow in a fellowship that has absolutely nothing to do with coffee and donuts.
You can get fatter and fatter with all that spiritual nourishment and still be healthy. In fact, in this context at least, the skinnier you are, the sicker, the sadder, and the weaker you are.
So grab a spoon today, and everyday, and dig in.
Work not for the food which perishes, but for the food which abides unto eternal life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him the Father, even God, has sealed, John 6:27.
Dene Ward