Comfort Food: A Tale of Two Pandemics

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Theresa A. Vaughan

Abstract

The great pandemic of 1918-1919 and the COVID-19 pandemic are considered from the point of view of cooking and eating, from reflections on family history and the lived experience of COVID-19 to media reports of both pandemics. While sources about the experience of cooking, eating, and food shortages during the pandemic of 1918-1919 are relatively scarce, abundant material exists in both popular media and social media on cooking, eating, and food shortages from 2020-2022. While there are some similarities between the two experiences, advances in communication and the existence of social media allowed us to make connections and deal with anxiety by making virtual communities based around food, and to express our experience through memes, Facebook groups, blogs, and other mediated experiences.

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Lead Essays