Blogging and comfort food - the AW blogchain
The blogchain is upon me. Niteowl foolishly wished that I would post about macaroni cheese, it being a comfort food and comfort being the current theme of the blogchain. Alas, my inner researcher surfaced, and I developed an unholy curiosity in what search terms have been used to find my blog in the last week and if any of them have an element of comfort food. Niteowl is entirely out of luck.
Firstly, no macaroni cheese. Not a scrap. Not even a hint of the fact that I’ve blogged on it already. It just does not appear in my search terms. If no-one’s looking for it, I don’t need to blog it. Niteowl is bereft of comfort, entirely.
He’s about to get more uncomfortable still, since using my search term list to look at comfort food breeds strange results. Also, as you might have guessed, he had the bad luck to run into Gillian in a very peculiar mood - I’m preparing my talk on Ancient Food for Melbourne tonight and seriousness is beyond me.
Back to that list of search terms from the last seven days.
Are bogong moths comfort food? Or are what they eat comfort foods? Certainly bogong moths appear a lot in my queries. I believe they’re good toasted, but I’ve never tried cooking them, despite the swarms that appear here very summer. I’ve blogged on them, too, and here’s the proof. Blogging and search terms alone don’t prove something is a comfort food, otherwise witchetty grubs would be way up there in terms of Australian bushfoods. I’ve not blogged about witchetty grubs yet - aren’t you relieved to hear this?
Maybe there’s a comfort period for foodies?
That might explain why I have so many queries about the Middle Ages (the other explanation is that I’m a Medievalist, which, while true, is way less interesting). The second most popular search term was “Medieval recipes” and the third was “Gothic tests” online. “Medieval feast” was unsurprisingly popular, given I’ve blogged a menu and recipes. Nothing to do with comfort food and everything to do with easy cooking. “Spices mixed with food in the Middle Ages” can only refer to that old furphy, that spicing hid spoiled meat in the Middle Ages. I ranted a bit about this a few months ago, intimating that some people might possibly have zombie ancestors, and it’s been a consistently popular search term since then. Why doesn’t “zombie ancestors” appear as a search term. Think of how many people would find my blog if they were hunting under “zombie ancestors.”
Sorry about the zombie detour. Back to normal blogging. Well, what passes for normal on a night when I’m preparing a talk that includes suicidal Roman gourmands and Medieval viagra. There are two more Medieval queries, though, which makes me think that the Middle Ages is our place of emotional safety, where we go to dream.
Another place of food safety is biscuits. Cookies to you lot on the other side of the Puddle (if the Atlantic is the Pond, then the Pacific must be the Puddle - perfect logic).
I get so many queries about biscuits and their history, on gem scone pans, on scones, on 1950s food. Mmm. I’m falling into nostalgia myself, just at the thought. This is where comfort food is. The 1950s. A Devonshire tea or even a high tea. A fresh baked batch of scones or a tray of biscuits. The scent of baking and a big brown ceramic pot of tea on the table, brewing.
While I dream of big pots of tea and fresh-baked scones, you get to think about Alaska. Not just across the Puddle, but further north than I am south. What’s really scary is that A View From the Waterfront’s weather may well be warmer than mine, today.
AW blogchain, comfort food, bogong moths, macaroni and cheese, zombie ancestors




June 8th, 2007 at 8:36 am
[...] Blogging and comfort <b>food</b> - the AW blogchain [...]
June 8th, 2007 at 8:36 am
[...] Blogging and comfort <b>food</b> - the AW blogchain [...]
June 8th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
I’m disappointed. I thought you would post about a fantastic centuries-old mac & cheese recipe, served in the Noble Houses of Medieval Europe (or at least the mid-20th century Australian version). Mmmmm, mac & cheese. . .
But thank you so much for introducing me to the term “furphy.” I’m going to add that to my vocabulary immediately.
June 8th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
Methinks that moth’s are not a comfort of any sort, let alone a comfort food.
Well, maybe to bats.
Your column is quite interesting, by the way.
I’m always up for new cooking ideas.
June 8th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
Wow, I’ve never heard of moths, especially as a culinary treat! Well, there you go and throw a twist - I learned something from the comfort of my chair!
June 9th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
And here I thought we were going to get a recipe that would help to distract the zombies when they come knocking at the door…
Andrea, you may have my share of moths. :p
Excellent as always, Gillian.
June 12th, 2007 at 11:35 am
Great post, Gillian. Fascinating stuff, as always.
June 12th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Any food is comfort food in my book. Except perhaps the moth thing. Either way, it explains a lot.
Great post, Gillian, might we persuade you to share a mac and cheese recipe next time?
June 12th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
[...] Gillian @ Food History: Blogging and comfort food [...]
June 13th, 2007 at 6:11 am
I get the hint about macaroni cheese. When I take it up, though, is a different question entirely :).
June 14th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
I still like the picture of the mac and cheese posse in pursuit of the Food History maven. I’ll be taking a pass on the moths, not going there….
June 15th, 2007 at 12:18 am
Yep, I’m being chased with a pasta-filled fork :).