Quickie: Why Comfort Food Serves Up Love on the Plate
Food and love really are connected
Your partner introduces you to their favorite dish. It immediately becomes yours and also brings you a sense of comfort every time you eat it — whether you’re having it with your partner or not.
But why did you connect to the food as quickly as you did, and would you have liked it as much if someone else prepared it?
Research from Appetite suggests that the positive feelings you have about a specific food are directly connected to the quality of the relationship you have with the person who first prepared it for you.
“Comfort food will never break your heart….”
Generally, these ties to food can be traced back to childhood and the relationships people have with their parents.
“Comfort foods are often the foods that our caregivers gave us when we were children. As long as we have positive association with the person who made that food, then there’s a good chance that you will be drawn to that food during times of rejection or isolation,” said researcher Shira Gabriel. “It can be understood as straight-up classical conditioning.”
