--- airs weeknights on SBS Food at 7.00pm or stream it free on . —-
What soothing food hits your sweet spot – the point where you feel both physically satisfied and emotionally comforted?
SBS put this question to stand-up comedian expecting to be met with a story on the heart-healing wonders of ice cream eaten straight from the tub on the couch in trackie dacks, or a tale about the oily powers of a late-night kebab.
Instead, her answer was porridge.
Fricker admits her go-to comfort food “sounds a bit Dickensian” but, she says, her version is no orphanage meal. Apple pie porridge, which Fricker makes on tastes like a warm bowl of sweet hugs.
I've always been a fan of porridges, ever since I was a child. Porridge really is a food that hits the spot emotionally.
Stewed on the stove, the porridge features rolled oats, maple syrup, cinnamon and simmered apples. It’s dressed in granola and finished with lashings of yoghurt.
“I've always been a fan of porridges, ever since I was a child,” Fricker tells SBS. “Porridge really is a food that hits the spot emotionally. Not only do I enjoy eating it, I enjoy the ritual of making it in the morning. I’ll have it for dessert too: I love a good late-night porridge.”
Fricker shrugs off the common notion that comfort foods have to be full of sugar and fats. On the contrary, she says, “comfort foods are simple meals that bring you joy as you make space and time for yourself”.
That sounds pretty deep but when you think about the times you eat for comfort – breakups, in times of sickness, during celebrations – and how you eat for comfort – alone with your own tears or thoughts, or within a group at a happy social setting – it makes perfect sense.
“When I am sick, all I really want to eat is a really good green apple. That's often what I crave for comfort – its texture and crunch. I know that even if my nose is a bit blocked, I can still taste it. That thought is nourishing.”
Gen's apple pie porridge is comfort without the blowout. Source: Adam Liaw
READ MORE
Apple pie porridge
Fricker’s understanding of what comprises a comfort food stretches even further. She believes you can claim a sense of comfort by retreating to a meal from your childhood that’s provided you solace, time and time again in adulthood.
Take rice pudding for example. It’s a dish her Maori mother made for her during her youth. “Maori cuisine is big on starchy foods like rice pudding. It’s another dish that my mum really loves making that has always brought me comfort.”
Cooking is a form of self-care. So I believe you should always cook what you can and make it a joyful experience.
Fricker recalls going through a pretty brutal breakup at the beginning of last year. “At that time, all I wanted was to eat rice pudding. I remember it was about 9 or 10 o'clock at night when I decided to make one.
“It’s a dish that takes time to make – you’ve got to stir it and watch it cook. That takes your mind off things. The process of cooking it also gives you a sense of control: you’re creating something from scratch, measuring ingredients, and always checking on how the dish is. So when I’ve felt really upset or unwell, rice pudding has been able to take me outside of my circumstances, just for a bit.”
O Tama Carey's rice pudding with rhubarb, pistachio and mascarpone Source: Sharyn Cairns
“Cooking is a form of self-care,” she says. “So I believe you should always cook what you can and make it a joyful experience.
“The thing that stopped me from cooking, for a long time, was that I always thought cooking had to be really complicated and up to a very high standard of sophistication. Whereas now, I believe that a good meal is just a meal that you find nourishing, that’s done well. To me, that’s what comfort food is.”
