The Great 2009 Comfort Food Poll

I began the Comfort Food Poll after I had been talking about the YamDaisy Cafe idea for a while, and had some feedback that cheap nutritious food would not be attractive to potential customers. It sounded too much like aching jaws and boring vegetables.
Even when I talked about delicious, nutritious, local, seasonal food made from scratch on the premises....
No, said some, people want junk food.
So I came up with the idea of finding out for myself - by asking people what they want to eat when they are hungry and tired.

The Question
"You have had a hard day, you are sick, tired and hungry. The Fabulous Food Fairy says "Sit yourself down and I will make you a lovely comforting meal. What would you like?"

I asked this question in my website, on the Facebook 'Comfort Food' Page, in my Community News Sheets and I asked most people I met.
I did mean to do more publicity, my local newspaper would have published an article for me, but my health has been bad the last few months and so I wasn't able to extend the idea.

However, the 70 or so results were very interesting! I quickly saw that the range was SO wide that one dish could probably not be counted a winner. If I did count it that way, Roast Lamb would be the winner, closely followed by Chicken Soup, Vegetable Soup, Pumpkin Soup, and Macaroni Cheese.
But there were variants within, one chicken soup had noodles, another had vegetables, another had dumplings and so it went.
I have ended up putting them into broad categories which seemed to indicate the favourite types of food better.

1st PLACE:
Delicious Nourishing Soups
2nd PLACE:
Scrumptious bakes including Spanakopita and Macaroni Cheese
3rd PLACE:
Tasty Stews; Curries were a big player here
4th PLACE:
Heart Warming Pasta dishes

I had to work out what to do with pasta bakes, there were a couple of lasagnes as well as another pasta bake, so I counted them in both categories!
There was also a love for potato mash, it appeared as part of a meal over and over again.
Pies were popular, especially from British contributors, and toast soldiers with soft boiled eggs appeared too.

Most of these comfort foods came from Australia, indeed, most came from my local community around Melbourne, and they do show that the sort of comfort meals that people would ask for, are exactly the sort of food that would be served at a YamDaisy Cafe.

Ofcourse we did have someone nominate chocolate! And another would simply want pavlova... but it is truly overwhelming that most people chose delicious nutritious meals.
You can see the contributions on the Comfort Food Facebook Page
And at the Comfort Food page on the YamDaisy Website

What comforting food would you ask the Fabulous Food Fairy to make for you?

PS The Fabulous Food Fairy was drawn by Harper Jones aged 5. Thankyou Harper!

Comfort Food, Stress and the YamDaisy Cafe

An interesting piece of research caught my eye. I have been using the idea of Comfort Food to get people thinking about the wonderful food a YamDaisy Cafe could provide. I ask: You come home tired, hungry and miserable and the Fabulous Food Fairy says "Put your feet up and I will cook you whatever you would like to eat right now". What would you ask?
And people have chosen the familiar, nostalgic and delicious foods that would comfort them.

So I was interested to read this: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/161105.php

It begins: Most of us can name our favorite "comfort foods" and believe that we are most prone to seek them out during times of stress and upheaval - like moving to a new town or starting (or ending!) a job. Contrary to this well-ingrained belief, this research shows the surprising result that our choices of old favorites happen at the opposite times that we predict. The data here show that when peoples' lives are characterized by high levels of change and upheaval, they are less likely to choose favorite "comfort" choices and more likely to choose new, unfamiliar products…even though they predict just the opposite! This common mis-prediction can lead to negative consequences for consumers in that it suggests people may choose the wrong timing for making positive new changes in one's life.

What could this mean for the YamDaisy Cafe? Well, I think it is all good! The YamDaisy Cafe provides the delicious nostalgic foods that are nourishing and comforting but, of course, not every ones comfort foods are the same. The menu will always be a bit of a challenge, with new dishes, unfamiliar ingredients and slightly changed versions of old favourites. This is especially true for someone coming to the YamDaisy cafe for the first time: possibly because their life is stressed, perhaps because they are new to the area.

So, they will find new and exciting food at the time of stress, and as their life settles down so the food will become more familiar and comforting.

If life gets stressed again, they can try that dish on the menu they have never been tempted by before.

The YamDaisy food is the lovely mix of familiar and comfort, and new and exciting, that life should be!

New Facebook Group

Thank goodness I have a teenage daughter! She helped me start on Facebook when I wanted a presence there for YamDaisy. I began a YamDaisy Group but couldn't see how I would use it, so I changed to a YamDaisy Cafe Page, as well the Comfort Food '09 Page. I have been trotting along with them, and especially the Comfort Food Page is going well. But now I am hoping for more intereaction, I have resurrected the YamDaisy Group. There are all sorts of things that might happen there, but I have begun with the Menu Planning invitation, and I have put Comfort Food there too, where people can not only post their comfort food, but also add the recipe!
Check it out http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=8644&uid=199765375108#/group.php?gid=199765375108