Comfort food

6min_english_comfort_food.pdf
comfortfood.mp3

Neil

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Neil.

Rob

And I’m Rob.

Neil

I see you’ve been tucking into the biscuits again, Rob.

Rob

Well, I have, Neil. You can’t beat a bite on a biscuit for a quick and easy sweet

treat. They make me feel good – as long as I don’t eat too many!

Neil

So, these are your ‘edible comforters’ – a comforter is something that makes you

feel relaxed and feel good. Put another way, it is your comfort food, which is

what we’re talking about in this programme.

Rob

Yes, like biscuits – comfort food is snacks and meals we like to stuff our faces

with, even if it’s not always good for us. We’ll be discussing what actually makes

us eat the stuff.

Neil

But how about a question to feast on, Rob? Patrick Bertoletti from the USA

holds the Guinness World Record for eating the most cream-filled biscuits in one

minute, but do you know how many biscuits he ate? Was it…

a) 2

b) 7, or

c) 15?

Rob

Well, based on my biscuit-eating skills, I’d say 15 – it depends if he had to

swallow them all as well.

Neil

I’m not sure about that – but I’ll reveal the answer later on. Now, biscuits, ice

cream, crisps and pizzas are all good examples of comfort food. They’re easy to

snack on and they don’t require many culinary skills – culinary means related to

cooking.

Rob

Umm, well that makes sense, but there must be something else that is urging us

to seek out this ‘easy’ food?

Neil

According to psychologist Shira Gabriel, it’s about memories and emotional

experiences. She spoke on The Food Chain podcast on BBC World Service and

said her comfort food was macaroni and cheese – something that brings back

memories…

Shira Gabriel, psychologist

At some point in my life those were foods that were made for me or shared with

me by people who cared about me and loved me and took care of me, so because

those are the foods that I had in my youth, I’ve associated with them, sort of,

those feelings of being taken care of. And those associations are strong, the

associations we have with food are very strong, and so by eating those foods, I’m

able to activate those associations and give myself a rush of positive feelings and

a sense of acceptance.

Neil

… so like so many of us, Shira associates eating certain types of food with past

experiences from her youth. Associates means makes a connection in your mind

with something.

Rob

And these connections between food and memories are very strong. I know

eating biscuits reminds me of eating them after school, as a treat.

Neil

Well, Shira explains how we get a rush – a sudden and strong emotion – of

positive feelings when these memories are activated by eating comfort food.

Rob

And it’s not just memories that are activated, but also the emotions we feel as

well. If we felt happy the first time we ate the food, then hopefully we’ll feel

happy when we eat it again.

Neil

It’s not always that simple, Rob. Tucking into food that’s high in carbohydrates,

sugar or salt can make us feel guilty, but we don’t realise our minds are trying to

trigger – or start - a positive emotion, and it’s making us eat that food to do so.

Rob

The Food Chain podcast explores this in more detail – but what is interesting is

that comfort food isn’t universal. Some languages don’t have a comparable

phrase.

Neil

It’s a good point and something food writer Jenny Linford talked about. Here’s

her theory on why that is…

Jenny Linford, food writer

Talking to Italian friends, I realised that, no, they don’t have a phrase for ‘comfort

food’ – I think it’s sort of irrelevant…. My Italian friends I asked about comfort

food, they were just, they said to me, look you know, food is always comfort and

always pleasure and it’s a joyful thing, so it’s just really interesting that you know

this idea of comfort food is not universal, it’s actually quite nuanced.

Rob

So, according to Jenny’s Italian friends, all food brings comfort and pleasure.

Talking about specific comforting food is irrelevant – it is not important or has

no connection with the discussion.

Neil

Yes, she thinks the concept of comfort food is quite nuanced, depending on

where you are from – so there are small but important differences.

Rob

Well, maybe we should take comfort from - or feel less bad about – the fact that

eating any kind of food can bring us joy, warmth, happiness and comfort. So if

you don’t mind, I think I’ll munch on another biscuit.

Neil

Are you trying to beat the record of Patrick Bertoletti from the USA? Earlier I

mentioned he holds the Guinness World Record for eating the most cream-filled

biscuits in one minute, but how many biscuits did he eat? Was it…

a) 2

b) 7, or

c) 15?

Rob

I thought he ate 15. Was I right?

Neil

No, Rob. He scoffed only 7 in one minute. So maybe you can beat him? But

before you do, let’s recap on some of the vocabulary we’ve been discussing.

Rob

Of course. We’ve been talking about comfort food – food that makes us feel

good – and we described it as a ‘comforter’ - something that makes us feel

relaxed and feel good.

Neil

We also mentioned culinary – connected to cooking.

Rob

And associated – which means made a connection in our mind with something.

Neil

Something that is irrelevant is not important or has no connection with the

discussion taking place.

Rob

And something that is nuanced has small but important differences.

Neil

Finally, when you take comfort in something, you don’t feel so bad because of

something else.

Rob

Well, Neil, we’re out of time but let’s take comfort in knowing that there are lots

more 6 Minute English programmes to enjoy on our website at

bbclearningenglish.com.

Neil

We also have an app that you can download for free from the app stores. And of

course, we are all over social media.

Rob

Thanks for listening and goodbye.

Neil

Goodbye.

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