Macaroni and Cheese – The Medieval European Dumpling That Conquered America
The “Liber de Coquina,” or “Book of Cooking,” an Italian cookbook from the 13th century, includes a recipe called de lasanis that foodie historians believe is the first macaroni and cheese recipe. This ancient dish traveled through centuries before becoming America’s ultimate comfort food. Food historian Adrian Miller points out that while Thomas Jefferson often gets credit for popularizing macaroni and cheese in the United States, it was of course his enslaved chef James Hemings who truly brought the dish to American tables. The transformation from European luxury to American staple happened through an interesting twist of history.
Catherine de Medici, the wife of King Henry II of France, is often credited with bringing macaroni and cheese to France from her native Italy. Macaroni and cheese was originally known as “Maccheroni alla parmigiana” in Italy, and was a dish made with baked layers of pasta, tomato sauce, and grated Parmesan cheese. It was considered a luxury dish, enjoyed only by the wealthy due to the expensive ingredients used. What’s fascinating is how this aristocratic dish eventually became the ultimate democratic comfort food.
Kraft hired Leslie and began to produce Kraft Macaroni & Cheese (known as Kraft Dinner or KD in Canada) in 1937 with the slogan “make a meal for four in nine minutes”. It was an immediate success in the US and Canada amidst the economic hardships of the Depression. The Great Depression transformed mac and cheese from fancy dinner party fare into something far more meaningful – survival food that tasted like home.
Chicken Soup – The Ancient Medicine That Became Jewish Penicillin
There’s something almost magical about how a simple pot of chicken soup can fix everything from broken hearts to common colds. Food historians have traced chicken soup’s healing reputation across multiple cultures, but perhaps nowhere is this more celebrated than in Jewish tradition. Matzo or Matzah Ball Soup is a traditional Ashkenazi Jewish dish that is often served during Passover and is commonly known as ‘Jewish penicillin.’ The nickname isn’t just affectionate – it reflects centuries of genuine belief in the soup’s curative powers.
The exact origins of matzo balls, and the traditional matzo ball soup, are unknown. Some historians posit that the copious amounts of matzo meal produced during the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, others believe that Jews used the crumbs leftover from matzo baking to produce the filling additions to their soup. It is believed that Jews began placing matzo balls in their soup as Eastern European cuisine began introducing dumplings in traditional foods, and Jews were adapting them to their dietary restrictions and culinary tastes.
The genius of Jewish mothers wasn’t just in the cooking – it was in understanding that comfort food works on multiple levels. My recipe produces a rich, flavorful broth that is just right for serving with matzo balls (or egg noodles, or rice, or veggies). also known as Jewish Penicillin, the soup that can cure anything. This isn’t mere superstition; modern science has actually validated what grandmothers knew all along about chicken soup’s anti-inflammatory properties.
Comfort Food Origins – From Liza Minnelli’s Hamburger to Modern Obsession
You might be surprised to learn that the term “comfort food” as we know it today was basically invented by a celebrity having a craving. In 1970, the young actress was perhaps the first – and certainly the most glamorous – to coin the modern usage of the now-well-worn phrase, comfort food. “Comfort food is anything you just yum, yum, yum,” she told syndicated newspaper food columnist Johna Blinn, smacking her lips together. She was daydreaming of a hamburger with all the fixins. Before Liza Minnelli’s enthusiastic description, comfort food had a completely different meaning.
Before Minnelli, comfort food had been the bland fare of the young, the elderly, and the ill. In the decade after, the two words grew slowly into an inescapable food fad, and now, a half-century later, comfort food has become the trend that will never end. What started as medical terminology for invalid food became the cultural phenomenon we can’t escape today.
Potatoes were the 1970s original “comfort food,” when the phrase still appeared in quotation marks in newspaper lifestyles sections. Chicken soup also quickly earned the title, a soothing meal with appeal that cut across demographic divides. The fact that newspapers put comfort food in quotation marks shows just how new and strange this concept was to the general public.
Pizza’s American Makeover – Coal Ovens and Corner Slices
Pizza’s journey from Naples to New York is a perfect example of how immigrant communities adapted their traditional foods to American realities. According to Scott Weiner, a “pizza historian”, it was all down to cost. In an article in Serious Eats, a popular food blog, he writes: “Those who have experienced the goodness of a coal-fired oven may take for granted the resulting pizza’s crisp yet chewy texture. Coal was already a dominant heating fuel when Neapolitan immigrants landed in the US in the 1880s. Newly arrived bakers used hard coal instead of wood to heat their ovens because it took up less space and burned more efficiently.”
But the real genius wasn’t just changing fuel sources – it was understanding American eating habits. The classic Neapolitan pizza also had to adapt to the hustle and bustle of New Yorkers on the move and in need of something to take to work to eat for lunch. This opened the door for pizza to be sold by the slice. Food historians attribute this invention to Frank Maestro, an Italian immigrant and salesman who ran a restaurant-supply business. That’s how pizza transformed from sit-down restaurant food to grab-and-go street food that defined American urban eating.
Pad Thai – The Dish That Built a National Identity
Sometimes comfort foods are created by government decree, which sounds crazy until you learn about Thailand’s brilliant cultural strategy. Indeed, some food historians say pad thai was the first Thai dish with a standardized recipe, and the fact that it was handed down from the top helped spread the dish around the country with ease. This wasn’t just about cooking – it was about creating national identity through food.
What makes this story even more interesting is that when you take a deeper look at Thai culinary history, there’s something unexpected about pad thai. Rice is the staple food of Thailand. While much of the flavor profile of pad thai is Thai and the sauces and pastes that some chefs add to the dish are also of Thai origins, the base of the dish – the stir-frying of noodles in a wok – is Chinese. What is still known as the Thai national dish – pad thai (nearly every non-Thai person’s first introduction to Thai cuisine) – likely came from the Chinatown in Bangkok, where thousands of ethnic Chinese still reside.
The irony is delicious – Thailand’s most famous “national” dish has Chinese roots, but the Thai government’s promotion turned it into something uniquely Thai. It’s a perfect example of how comfort foods become cultural ambassadors, representing entire countries to the world while hiding their own complex immigration stories.
Barbecue’s Global Journey – From Caribbean Platforms to Korean Grills
Barbecue might seem like the most American thing imaginable, but food historians have traced its techniques across continents and centuries. Although barbecue – cooking meat over an open flame – is a tradition that dates back to the start of civilisation, the modern day barbecue originates in several different parts of the world at different times and in different styles. For instance, the Korean barbecue tradition, known as gogi-gui, in which thin strips of meat are grilled over flames, dates back about 2,000 years while churrasco, meaning “grilled meat”, emerged in 17th century Brazil.
Historians also established a connection between how the Taino Indians in the Caribbean barbecued with a raised platform and the Spanish explorers who are believed to have brought that technique from the Caribbean to the Americas in the 1400s, a precursor to the American-style barbecue we know today. But the real story of American barbecue is much more complex and painful.
In a September issue of Texas Monthly, Joseph R Haynes, author of From Barbycu to Barbecue: The Untold History of an American Tradition, wrote: “[Barbecue] was born after enslaved Africans were brought to Virginia in 1619 from West Africa. Eventually, enslaved people of African descent, along with people of European descent, and others of American Indian descent combined their cooking traditions and created what we today call southern barbecue.” American barbecue is literally fusion cuisine born from cultural collision and survival.
Chicken Tikka Masala – The Curry That Fooled Everyone
One of the most beloved “Indian” dishes in the world might not be Indian at all, which says something fascinating about how we create comfort food myths. Some say chicken tikka masala was created in a restaurant in Glasgow, Scotland, in the 1950s – making it about as Scottish as you can get while still tasting completely Indian.
This isn’t just a fun food trivia fact; it reveals how immigrant communities adapted their cooking to local tastes, creating entirely new dishes that somehow felt more “authentic” than anything back home. The genius of chicken tikka masala is that it satisfies British cravings for mild, creamy comfort food while maintaining enough spice and flavor to feel exotic and special.
Matzah Ball Fusion – Ancient Traditions Meet Modern Innovation
Sometimes comfort food evolution happens when two traditions collide in the kitchen of a homesick cook. Growing up in Seattle, it’s easy to fall in love with pho. Growing up in Seattle, it’s easy to fall in love with pho. It feels like there’s a great Vietnamese restaurant just around every corner, welcoming you in from cold rain with steamy glass windows and equally steamy soups. Pho is a traditional Vietnamese soup, and has became popular around the world thanks to Vietnamese immigrants.
I also started experimenting with matzah ball soup. Dumplings are inherently versatile, and matzah balls are dumplings by definition. Making matzah ball pho is the happy outcome of two classic comfort foods. Like traditional matzah ball soup, this dish is nourishing and comforting, but it’s also unexpectedly complex in flavor with a balance of savory, sweet and spicy elements. This kind of fusion shows how food traditions adapt and survive by finding common ground – in this case, the universal appeal of dumplings in broth.
The Great Depression’s Lasting Legacy on American Comfort Food
The Great Depression didn’t just change American economics – it fundamentally reshaped what we consider comfort food. As families faced economic hardship during the Great Depression, and later during World War II when strict food rationing limited households’ access to meat and dairy, boxed macaroni and cheese, introduced by Kraft in 1937, became a lifeline for households across North America. Historical data shows that the demand for boxed macaroni and cheese tripled between 1943 and 1945, as families sought out meals that were both affordable and did not require rationed ingredients. By 1946, Kraft was selling tens of millions of boxes of the iconic blue-and-yellow packages, cementing mac and cheese’s status as a beloved American comfort food.
During the Second World War, rationing led to increased popularity for the product, of which two boxes could be obtained for one food rationing stamp, or one box for 19 cents. This transformation from luxury to necessity created lasting emotional associations that still drive comfort food choices today.
What’s remarkable is how these Depression-era survival foods became nostalgic symbols of American childhood, passed down through generations who never experienced that original desperation. The blue box didn’t just feed families – it created memories and traditions that outlasted the crisis that created them.
From Survival to Celebration – How Comfort Foods Transcend Their Origins
Perhaps the most fascinating thing about comfort food history is how dishes born from necessity transform into symbols of abundance and celebration. After emancipation, macaroni and cheese took on many dispositions with the Black community: it became a dish for celebrations, a handy comfort food, and a penny pinching meal for poor families. After emancipation, macaroni and cheese took on many dispositions with the Black community: it became a dish for celebrations, a handy comfort food, and a penny pinching meal for poor families. Poor households, relying on government and other relief entities, often received macaroni and processed cheese, the fixings of a quick meal.
Foods that evoke a sense of nostalgia and comfort and have good texture variety are important considerations in prepared meals aimed at older adults, according to new Washington State University research. “We want to help the prepared food industry produce appetizing, healthy meals for older adults,” said Carolyn Ross, professor in WSU’s School of Food Science. “Malnutrition is quite prevalent in people over 60 because food may be available, but they won’t eat it if they don’t like it.” Modern food science confirms what food historians have always known – comfort food works because it connects us to memory, identity, and home.
The beauty of these dishes lies in their ability to mean different things to different people while maintaining their essential character. A bowl of chicken soup can represent Jewish tradition, immigrant adaptation, maternal care, or simple physical healing – sometimes all at once. These foods survive because they’re emotionally flexible enough to carry whatever meaning we need them to carry.
What makes these comfort food stories so compelling is how they reveal the complex human dramas behind our simplest pleasures. Every bite carries history – migration, adaptation, survival, celebration, and the endless human desire to feel at home wherever we are. Did you expect that your favorite comfort food had such a complicated past?
