Comfort Food
Updated: Sep 1, 2022
“French Toast”
Peering into the parchment-stained ceramic bowl, battered with bumps and grooves; a pair of firm hands whisk together thickened yolks and heavy cream. Sifted spices along with a mound of caster sugar sink to the bowl’s bottom, only to be re-awakened with every churn. Awaiting the sweetened, yolky mixture, brioche.
Fluffy, light, and fresh. This piece is about French Toast because I feel as though it is the perfect embodiment of everything I want my soul to be, and the thought of that brings me peace.
- Ryn Wrench
“Efo Riro & Pounded Yam”
On Sunday after church, my mother would gather my sister and I in the kitchen to cook Efo Riro and pounded yam—a traditional meal well known among the Yoruba people of Nigeria. The fragrant smell of spices and meats cooking would fill the whole house as the mix of blended peppers and spinach bubbled on the stove. While cooking the stew and pounding the boiled African yams took a while to prepare, it was moments like these that made me appreciate my family and culture.
- Esther Ayannusi
“Mee Katang”
My comfort food is mee katang, a Cambodian stir-fried noodle dish similar to chow fun. I remember weekend mornings when I'd run downstairs, and my mom would be preparing this meal. I would have two (maybe three) plates of it. It's yummy, filling and it reminds me of home. Now that I'm in college, I don't have my mom to cook for me, so I make my own mee katang. This is my mee katang, but nothing compares to the mee katang my mom would make for me growing up.
- Nina Touch
“Arroz con Leche”
One of the few dishes that truly comforts me is my mom’s arroz con leche. Its flavors provide a feeling that is so profound, I can feel it warm my very bones. Caught somewhere between a desert and a meal, the sweet and salty flavors tie together in a way that puts my soul at ease, wraps it in a feeling that can only be described as home. My mom likes to top it off with a slice of Colombian cheese – a piece of her heart – and I know I will always be loved.
- Valeria Sandi
“Baked Mac&Cheese”
My mother’s baked Mac & Cheese is my favorite type of comfort food. This is a recipe my Grandma Ada passed down to all of her children, even though each child makes it differently: layered, mixed, with or without bread crumbs, and sometimes, with questionable cheese choices. To me, holiday and celebration dinners are incomplete without this dish, and it’s usually the first thing on my plate. Baked Mac & Cheese represents my family’s love and support, even when some family members can’t attend an event or have passed away. Now that I’m old enough to make it myself, I always smile because I feel my mom and grandmother’s warmth wrap around me in the biggest hug.
- Kesha Perkins