Comfort food

[Rachel Adams]

When answering the question "What do you eat for comfort?" Can I use "comfort food?"
"My favourite comfort food is healthy food with the necessary substances for the body. For example, oatmeal and buckwheat. It is important to exclude fried food, sugar and unhealthy fats."

 

[emsr2d2]

Yes, "comfort food" is the natural choice. It would make the original question more natural - "What's your [favourite] comfort food?" A native speaker is unlikely to ask "What do you eat for comfort?"

 

[probus]

I'm not saying that use of comfort food is wrong, but comfort food usually refers to things that give us comfort because they are foods we learnt to like when our mothers gave them to us as little children.

 

[Tarheel]

Comfort food is not comfort food because it is good for you. It's comfort food because it makes you feel good.

 

[emsr2d2]

I'm not saying that use of comfort food is wrong, but comfort food usually refers to things that give us comfort because they are foods we learnt to like when our mothers gave them to us as little children.

My comfort foods have nothing to do with what I ate as a child. They're just things I eat when I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself or had a hard day at work etc. Sometimes it's something like a huge jacket (baked) potato with a large pile of ratatouille on top; sometimes it's a gigantic bar of chocolate!
I'm not disagreeing that some people might eat something their mum used to make but I don't agree that it means that any more than it means my definition.

 

[5jj]

That's fine. I just wouldn't call Rachel's healthy diet 'comfort food'.

 

[Rover_KE]

I agree with 5jj.

(See Comfort Food by Iris Chew and Hammond Chipps.)