Comfort Food for Uncomfortable Times

I hope that you are not tired yet of the term “comfort food”. Chances are you are going to be seeing it and hearing it a lot more through 2009, and maybe beyond. Every time a recession falls across the country comfort food picks up in popularity. They are the culinary version of a life jacket, keeping us afloat in troubled waters. Looking at the menus of many new restaurants, or independent restaurants with the ability to shape their offerings to the changing times, I see an increase in comfort food.

Mintel Menu Insights recently reported on the reason for their increase in popularity in their 2009 Menu Trends forecast:

Often connected to times of economic recession, comfort food is what people crave when they’re feeling down. Expect this phenomenon to hold true in 2009 as people look for warm, familiar favorites on the menu. Restaurants will make comfort food new by increasing their use of slow-cooking. Slow-baked, slow-grilled, braised and poached will become “it” preparation methods as chefs find ways to provide maximum flavor affordably.

This view is echoed by NPR food commentator Bonny Wolf in a piece titled “2009 Food Trends: A Side Dish of Recession”:

The economic recession will color food trends in 2009. The words "comfort, value and simplicity," she says, will sum up the culinary scene. "We’re in uncertain times, and this is the time when we crave comfort food," Wolf says. "The cover of Gourmet magazine this month is a plate of spaghetti and meatballs."

Home cooking means more mashed potatoes, meat loaf and spaghetti and meatballs. "But it won’t be exactly like your grandma’s," says Wolf. "There will be slightly more sophisticated twists — artisan cheese mixed in with your mashed potatoes. And things will probably be healthier —less butter, more vegetables."

Wolf says restaurants will start buying less expensive cuts of meat and do more slow-cooking and braising.

The bigger casual dining chains haven’t moved in this direction yet. Moving a big chain menu is like trying to turn a cruise ship. It requires lots of time and energy. You see it in the smaller chains and in independent restaurants. More meatloaf, pot roast, braised short ribs, pork chops, macaroni and cheese entrees, and all of the old favorites from past recessions. 

Houlihan’s has a Down Home Pot Roast on its regular menu, served with honest gold mashers and home-style vegetables. Someone’s grandmother has been busy in the test kitchen. Speaking of test kitchens, Houlihan’s has an R & D menu available in half of their locations that solicits your feedback on the test items. One of the items is Meatloaf No. 9, their 9^th and most successful recipe for an old classic. If anyone is counting that would be “two” comfort foods on the Houlihan’s menu.

Just because the times may be uncomfortable doesn’t mean that the food will be. Unfortunately, it is a trend that may hang around for a while.