We call it comfort food, as though the food is doing all the work.
But comfort can come from more than what’s on the plate.
The smell. The room. The familiar ritual. The person who made it. Even the sounds of the kitchen.
Perhaps that’s why an old recipe can be recreated perfectly and still taste a little different.
Some ingredients were never written down.
And sometimes, what we’re really craving is a memory we didn’t know we were hungry for.