or “chicken soup” have to do with love? Everything, according to psychologist and family therapist Nancy P. Levy. “Our earliest experiences of love include food, starting with mother’s milk,” she says, adding, “but it depends on your own family and traditions. Those words could be ‘soba noodles and pork balls,’ or ‘potato latkes.’ Every family has its own comfort foods.” After a quick poll around the American Family office, the list of family-inspired comfort foods is varied and surprising: everything from apple strudel to zabaglione, and a few wacky Jell-O salads in between.Clichéd. Trite. Drivel. If only someone had actually said “zabaglione.” While my editor thought it might be interesting to explore some unusual family favorites, she didn’t exactly give me license to write the article I wanted to, which now just sounds like a bad idea, anyway. What the hell does food have to do with anything? It isn’t love or life or a solution to anything. Why have I spent my professional life so devoted to it?
