“Comfort food” is a term we hear all the time, but what does it really mean? Here at Auntie Pearl's Pantry we think it means food that provides emotional comfort in addition to sustenance. You can put a roomful of nutritionists and a roomful of professional chefs together and they can dictate what people should and shouldn't do when designing a healthy diet. They can take their list of do's and don'ts and post it on the wall. If you look on the list and say
“Where are the brownies?” you'll ask “Are they something I shouldn't eat?”
“Brownies are not on the list.” will be the reply “But you can eat them. Brownies are comfort food.”
What they mean by this is that brownies, like other comfort foods are eaten for their taste and their emotional value. We know a professional chef who works in a kitchen that creates some of the finest food in the world. Their pantry has ingredients from all over the globe. We visited him one time at work and he said he was just about to have a snack and wanted to know if we would like to join him. “Yes” we said, with visions of truffles and pate fois gras running through our heads. I sat at the table and he brought – grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup. We asked about his choice of food and he replied
“My mother always made grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup for snacks on the weekends when I was a little boy. To this day, I love the taste and it always reminds me of my childhood.”
That's what brownies are to us at Auntie Pearl's Pantry. Every time we mix, bake, and eat brownies we are reminded of the woman who inspired them. With each batch we can't help but think a little about the other times when batches of brownies were made. First when we were only big enough to eat them. Afterwards when we were big enough to help mix them, then responsible enough to bake them. Now, we're old enough to appreciate them.
Auntie Pearl's Brownies – our comfort food.
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