Julie Mitchell
RedwoodAge.com

Craving a bowl of rich, creamy ice cream? What about a piping hot helping of baked macaroni and cheese? 

Call it the recession blues or just a hearty serving of nostalgia, but comfort food is in, and it’s not going away any time soon.  

The term comfort food has been popular among foodies for the past several years, and food industry experts say we’ll be hearing about it through 2009 and beyond. 

Dictionary.com defines comfort food as: “Food that is simply prepared and associated with a sense of home and home cooking.” In the UK, they call it nursery food. 

In uncertain times, people are looking for foods that remind them of simpler times, like the warm, enticing aroma of a casserole baking in mom’s kitchen or burgers sizzling on the charcoal grill out back.

According to a report by the market research firm, Mintel, comfort food is often associated with times of recession because it’s what people crave when they’re feeling down.  

Restaurants are catering to this trend, serving familiar favorites using techniques such as slow baking and grilling, braising and poaching to maximize flavor. Think pot roast, roasted chicken, and meat loaf and mashed potatoes. 

But the more upscale recipes won’t be quite like the ones you remember from your childhood dinner table. 

“It won’t be exactly like your grandma’s," NPR food commentator Bonny Wolf said in a recent piece. "There will be slightly more sophisticated twists - artisan cheese mixed in with your mashed potatoes. And things will probably be healthier - less butter, more vegetables.”  

Wolf points to a recent cover of Gourmet magazine featuring a plate of spaghetti and meatballs as a prime example of comfort food hitting the big time. 

Eric Greenberg is an entrepreneur who’s behind a new concept in healthy comfort food found in Northern California grocery stores, online, and in a new “fresh food space” in San Francisco called Beautifull, Inc.  

A Silicon Valley executive-turned-foodie, Greenberg founded Beautifull in 2007 after going though a transformation in the way he ate with the help of a personal chef, nutritionist and doctor.  

Not only did he lose 60 pounds, but Greenberg also realized that eating food that tastes great and makes you feel good was something everyone should be able to do. 

But he found that even the most health-conscious people don’t always have the time or knowledge to find and prepare the kind of food, especially comfort food, they want to eat.  So he lined up a panel of top chefs, nutritionists and doctors, including Dr. Dean Ornish, to help him create healthful, flavorful, prepared meals such as turkey meatballs with kamut spaghetti, Thai chicken curry, and a whole host of other entrees, side dishes, sandwiches and salads, all made without preservatives or additives and low in fat.  

Customers can order meals online and have them delivered, buy them at local markets to heat up at home, or visit the new Beautifull store in San Francisco.

“The name ‘Beautifull’ came from the idea that the food we make not only tastes good, but you feel good after you eat it,” said Greenberg. “And I think health should be eating beautiful food.” 

Despite the recession, he believes this is the perfect time to open more Beautifull locations.  

“People have to eat,” Greenberg said, “and in today’s economy, they’re seeking the best food value they can find. During a recession, every bite counts for people’s physical and financial well being.”  

For those less concerned with health and simply seeking comfort, take note. A Cornell University study conducted by the Food and Brand Lab of food preferences across age and gender of more than 1,000 North Americans found that our favorite comfort foods are: potato chips, ice cream, cookies, chocolate, pizza and pasta, steak and burgers, casseroles, soup, vegetables, and salad, in that order.

Did you want fries with that burger?