Comfort is... - culinary workshops about comfort
Šopa Gallery, Košice, SK
At the outset, it’s worth noting that we are born with an innate preference for sweet and umami flavors—both of which are the primary tastes found in human breast milk. Researchers suggest that our responses to odors (including the smells of food) are almost entirely learned and rely on memory, although some of these responses emerge very early on. Ultimately, memory plays a central role in explaining nearly every facet of our eating behaviors and preferences.
As a form of memory, “nostalgia” carries various meanings, both in general and in relation to food. Much of the literature on food—particularly outside the field of anthropology—draws on the secular idea of sentimentality for a bygone past, treating food as a vessel for childhood and family memories. However, nostalgia can also be understood differently: not as the reliving of an emotional past, but as a yearning for times and places one has never actually experienced. The nostalgic recollection of comfort food, for instance, does not always stem from a genuinely happy childhood; instead, it can serve to construct a fictional narrative of such a childhood.
The two main themes of the workshops were food and comfort. Together with the participants, we used sensory memory to discuss dishes that brought us joy and a sense of security. The workshops consisted of two parts: a theoretical section and a practical one, scheduled over separate days.
During the first workshop, we talked about our associations with comfort in a general sense and in connection to food. The exchange of personal stories about experiences of comfort was preceded by readings of texts that explored the relationship between food and memory. The culmination of this session was the creation of personal recipes for favorite comfort foods. These collected recipes formed a digital publication, serving as an archive of our meeting.
For the practical stage, we moved into an arranged “kitchen” to prepare a meal previously agreed upon with the participants. Since comfort was the key theme of the project, the experience of working in the kitchen and collaborating offered an opportunity to reflect on the effort we invest in achieving it. The cooking workshop symbolically concluded with a shared meal.
Photos Zuzana Jakabova
Šopa Gallery, Košice, SK
At the outset, it’s worth noting that we are born with an innate preference for sweet and umami flavors—both of which are the primary tastes found in human breast milk. Researchers suggest that our responses to odors (including the smells of food) are almost entirely learned and rely on memory, although some of these responses emerge very early on. Ultimately, memory plays a central role in explaining nearly every facet of our eating behaviors and preferences.
As a form of memory, “nostalgia” carries various meanings, both in general and in relation to food. Much of the literature on food—particularly outside the field of anthropology—draws on the secular idea of sentimentality for a bygone past, treating food as a vessel for childhood and family memories. However, nostalgia can also be understood differently: not as the reliving of an emotional past, but as a yearning for times and places one has never actually experienced. The nostalgic recollection of comfort food, for instance, does not always stem from a genuinely happy childhood; instead, it can serve to construct a fictional narrative of such a childhood.
The two main themes of the workshops were food and comfort. Together with the participants, we used sensory memory to discuss dishes that brought us joy and a sense of security. The workshops consisted of two parts: a theoretical section and a practical one, scheduled over separate days.
During the first workshop, we talked about our associations with comfort in a general sense and in connection to food. The exchange of personal stories about experiences of comfort was preceded by readings of texts that explored the relationship between food and memory. The culmination of this session was the creation of personal recipes for favorite comfort foods. These collected recipes formed a digital publication, serving as an archive of our meeting.
For the practical stage, we moved into an arranged “kitchen” to prepare a meal previously agreed upon with the participants. Since comfort was the key theme of the project, the experience of working in the kitchen and collaborating offered an opportunity to reflect on the effort we invest in achieving it. The cooking workshop symbolically concluded with a shared meal.
Photos Zuzana Jakabova