Kitchen Gardeners International: Happiness is a Warm Potato

This is the time of the year in the Northern Hemisphere where we turn to food for warmth and comfort. For many of us, it's that time of the year most of the time. According to some new research out of Cornell University, we don't all turn to the same foods items for comfort.

The researchers found that women are more prone to eat comfort foods high in fat and sugar, such as cakes and ice cream. Men, on the other hand, are more likely to turn to soups, pasta and steaks when seeking a comfort-food fix. As one writer recently put it, "women are from Ben and Jerry’s and men are from Outback".

This story takes me back a couple of years to when I was living in Belgium and asked my Belgian mother-in-law what comfort food was to her. She answered "potatoes". To which, I replied "Prepared in what way...fries with mayonnaise, au gratin, roasted with herbs?" To my surprise, she said "No, just plain boiled potatoes...maybe with a bit of salt". When I dug deeper, I discovered that potatoes connote well-being for her because they are what kept her family alive in the lean years following World War II.

This is something that we'd all do well to keep in mind with Thanksgiving coming up next week. While many of us seek comfort from our food, many more - 900 million according to the UN - seek enough calories to get them through another day. At KGI, we invite you to think about how you can help more people in your local community and in the world to enjoy the comfort of full belly.

Posted by KGI on November 18, 2005 10:24 AM to Kitchen Gardeners International
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