Comments on: Comfort Food Without Borders

By: Christina

Christina — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Very true – though most of them do seem to be simple. I’m not sure if there is a universal New Zealand comfort food. Possibly steak and mashed potato. I know my two favorite comfort foods are tomato soup with a swirl of milk in it (shades of sick days as a child) and grilled cheese on toast.

By: etherbish

etherbish — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I've been feeling a bit under the weather and mmm...congee would really hit the spot. My mom and I used to pretend that the chunks of meat she put in were 'cannons' and 'guns' and the rice was 'ammunition' to fight all the germs making me sick.

I am going to be horribly embarassed by the revelation in about 3 minutes.

By: Barbara Fisher

Barbara Fisher — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Grilled cheese and cream of tomato soup are big comfort foods to me, too, Christina.

Homemade noodles with stewed chicken over mashed potatoes is another.

There is nothing to be embarrassed about eating congee with cannons and guns and ammunition in it, Ladi! My Mom used to say similar things about the vitamins in spinach and other greens. Not that I needed help in eating them, I craved them, but still.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hi Barbara,
I've not heard of Chinese women taking congee after childbirth. There is usually a period of convalescence/confinement for 30-40 days for these women, where certain practices are observed. Many of these practices were passed down from many moons ago. Congee is considered a ying food, which is deemed too cooling for the frail new mother, who needs lots of yang food to build up her strength.

Shirley (shiangy_l@yahoo.com)

By: Barbara Fisher

Barbara Fisher — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Thank you, Shirley--after reading your comment, I went back to dig out where I had read that comment about giving congee/jook to a woman after childbirth, and no surprise--it was written by an American. It is in a book called The Tao of Food, which is a fairly accurate overview of the chi in food and how to harmonize and balance one's diet in a Chinese way to help promote health and well-being. I say "fairly accurate," because it is not very in depth, and makes no reference to what Grace Young calls "yun" soups--soups which are meant to revitalize and balance a person's body in the face of illness or after eating too many yang foods.

Now, I am wondering how shallow the book really is.

Thank you for correcting me, Shirley. One of the things that I am still working on learning is the underlying principles of chi that are foundational in Chinese cooking. I know a small amount, in general terms, but very few books discuss the depth of the topic at all--probably because it is assumed that Western rationalists would scoff at the idea.

But the understanding of harmony, balance and energy is so integral to Chinese cooking, that I wish there were books that talked about it at length.

Can you recommend any yorself--unfortunately, they have to be in English, which is my handicap, though I keep thinking I should start the effort of learning Mandarin or Cantonese, just to be able to have access to more information. Or, maybe I should take to interviewing very experienced cooks....

Thank you again, Shirley!