I don't like pretentious cooks

I hate hate hate people who are so snarky and pretentious and think that their cooking is the be all and end all in the world of 'haute cuisine'. Just because you went to some crappy place in spain called segovia doesn't give you the god given right to say that your oversalted seared scallops with roasted cauliflower puree are simply the best appetizer to come out of north america in the last twenty years.

There are some simple reasons why some food is really good and some food is just only so-so. My philosophy stems from that phrase, 'don't fuck with the classics'. They're Probibly classics for a reason right? There is a reason why people have been making wild mushroom risotto for the last million years in Italy. Porchini mushrooms are probibly the best type of mushroom in existance, and really I'm not super impressed with people that like to throw weird and random items into a classic dish like a risotto. There is something so satisfying about a meal like greasy bacon and eggs that you really can't get with higher end food. Yes, risotto is really good and i could probibly just eat it indefinately, but its not comfort food for me.

Comfort Food

So what really is this thing everyone talks about called 'comfort food'?
Really, its whatever you want it to be. It could be what your mom always made you for supper when you were 6 years old and played soccer 4 nights a week. It could be that ham and turkey christmas meal that your grandparents made every single christmas. It had coleslaw and buns and always a big can of cranberry sauce because nobody ever wanted to make that stuff. it could also be a cold cut sandwich with cheddar cheese and grainy dijon mustard served with some ripple chips and a can of pop. Maybe even, its shepards pie with corn and really creamy mashed potatoes that were blended using a hand mixed. Also it might be a tortiere called 'auntie ethel's meat pie. There was always cheddar cheese on the underside of the crust. The secret ingredients were tabasco, ketchup and oxo cubes in the filling.

comfort food is different for every single person. My sister grew up eating rice. nothing but rice and soy sauce. Popcorn was another staple of her diet right up until now, and shes almost 21. My dad loved to make traditional consumme soup. Thats a beef broth with rice and a lot of thinly sliced green onions on top. He also made a pork and apple 'stew' for lack of better words that was scented with cinnamon and allspice. generally we served that over noodles or sometimes brown rice.

comfort food could also mean different things in different cultures. desserts for instance are very bizzarre in Japan. Everything is made from glutenous rice paste and basically, In my opinion taste like garbage. The Japanese love this stuff and honestly can't get enough of it. We on the other hand, enjoy sweet chocolate desserts with marshmallows and caramel sauce. Japanese people find this disgusting.

all in all, theres no one dish that is comfort food for you and everyone else. its all personal taste and your family upbringing, socio economic status, race, gender and age. Take that!