Comfort foods are simple, delicious and embrace you like a warm sweater on a cold and windy day. I read tons of food magazines and restaurant reviews — everyone talks about their version of comfort food and why they find comfort in it.

I find the whole subject endlessly fascinating.

Most folks find comfort in the nostalgia of food – the food they knew as kids, that perhaps their mom or granny prepared for them when they were small. Now as adults they make a version of that recipe for themselves and their families passing along the comforting tradition.

It’s funny for me, as I get older and my tastes evolve, the food of my youth no longer comforts me.

I honestly can’t remember the last time I had a meatloaf. Shortly after my granny passed away I discovered that the chocolate cake she made for me every year for my birthday came out of a box — it nearly killed me.

For years, I thought she spent hours making this beautifully moist layer cake especially for me but it turns out the cake came from a black and red box and ultimately it looked exactly like the picture on the front.

Now, when I have been particularly desperate I try to recreate that boxed cake but it is never the same, I don’t think it was the cake I actually liked, I am pretty sure I loved it because it was made with love for me and the only reason I never bothered to find out that it came from a box was because it didn’t really matter.

Okay, there are still a couple of things that I still crave — like my mom’s butter tarts at Christmas and meatballs cooked in mushroom soup served on buttery egg noodles on a Sunday night.

But for the most part I have created my own list of recipes that I find comfort in at different times of the year.

All of the food that I take comfort in now shares two simple components — simplicity and the freshest best quality ingredients I can find.

I still love the old standbys like roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, beef stew and mac and cheese but for me now I find tremendous joy in a properly cooked burger from the barbecue in the summer, a really well made pizza, perfectly cooked poached eggs on toasted artisan bread with an amazing cup of coffee, warm chocolate chip cookies (with or without the bacon) and baked beans.

What comforts you and your family?

Where do those traditions and flavours come from and how have they evolved over the years.

I am curious — drop me a note and let me know. E-mail angie@wellseasoned.ca.

Angie Quaale is the owner of Well Seasoned Gourmet Food Store in Langley.