Comfort Foods: An Exploratory Journey Into The Social and Emotional Significance of Food

This paper uses symbolic interactionist and structuralist perspectives to examine the social construction of some food objects as “comfort foods,” highlighting how cultural studies of food should take into account its social and physiological dimensions. This study's empirical findings are based upon the food items brought to class by 264 undergraduate students at a southeastern university in the United States. Comfort foods are classified into four categories: nostalgic foods, indulgence foods, convenience foods, and physical comfort foods. We describe how particular food objects come to be associated with the relief of distress and show how food objects are manipulated to modify or change emotional states or feelings. The practical implications of this work extend to understanding the role that mood plays in food selection and considering the use of comfort foods under certain circumstances, such as when individuals are experiencing illness.