From Discomfort to Discourse: Comfort Food in Pandemic Australia

Main Article Content

Robert James Smith

Abstract

Australian examples of the consumption of and attitudes to comfort food are given as useful comparisons in highlighting what is essential to the concept. Through print media and informal interviews the article traces the later adoption of the phrase in Australia, showing the local reluctance to embrace the concept. A change is then noted, brought on generally by the enforced isolation of the Covid-19 pandemic and specifically through the acknowledgement by prominent food writers during one week. Subsequently comfort food became largely devoid of its previous moral judgement, replaced by a sense of shared experience which seemed to endorse one’s belonging to the broader community.

Article Details

Section
Research Essays, Notes, & Queries