Food That Strengthens Body and Mind

When feeling extremely tired or when the body aches and the appetite fades, the food that most desperately comes to mind is usually the one made by mothers in their childhood hometowns. Eating such food feels like it immediately restores the appetite and provides strength to the exhausted body and mind, and in English, such food is called comfort food. Comfort food is typically simple dishes prepared in a traditional way, often carrying memories and nostalgia, thus having a particularly soothing and healing effect on the soul.

 

My hometown was a rural area nestled by the seaside, with a river flowing through the town center. During my childhood, I had the opportunity to taste various dishes made from ingredients coming from the mountains, river, and the sea, which was quite a blessing for a poor country child like me. True to its nickname "Potato Rock," .the place was abundant with potato dishes, among which mashed potato pancakes and soy sauce-braised potatoes were often remembered. Although these dishes could be easily made with just potatoes, making mashed potato pancakes was quite a task due to the difficulty in grating potatoes, so we only made them once every few years. Although I tried making soy sauce braised potatoes several times, it never tasted quite like the one I had in my childhood. Perhaps it's because the potatoes from Gangwon Province and Idaho, USA, have different flavors? My comfort food includes salted and dried pollock in kimchi, salted yellow croaker, salted pollack roe, and the sparkling salmon roe that seems to give strength to my tired body and mind with just a small bite. Sometimes, I long for the marsh snails we used to pick by the riverside, quickly cook in a pot, and dip in spicy pepper paste—a comfort food that I can hardly bear to miss.

 

Our senior priest at the church has been in and out of hospitals and rehabilitation centers quite frequently due to his health issues. Recently, after successfully undergoing surgery to remove accumulated fluid in his brain, a parishioner visited him. And to his surprise, when asked about the food he desired, he answered, "Jajangmyeon (black bean noodles) and Tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork)."

 

It seems that jajangmyeon and sweet and sour pork are comfort foods that provide strength to the body and mind of the senior priest. Perhaps that's why, when he recently visited the church, he appeared much healthier. He, who couldn't walk at all, now walked slowly with the support of a walker, even though it was just a short distance.

 

When I was hospitalized after a traffic accident, the food I craved the most wasn't the one I had in my childhood hometown. At that time, I couldn't eat anything because my vocal cords were damaged, and anything I swallowed went into my lungs, so I couldn't even swallow a drop of water or a grain of rice. I was constantly plagued by hunger and thirst, receiving only basic metabolic nutrients through a feeding tube connected to the outside because of a hole in my stomach.

 

Seeing other patients eating made me envious, and whenever I saw leftovers of scrambled eggs, I longed for them desperately. I wanted to secretly drink the yellow orange juice that they always kept beside their beds, but I couldn't even raise my arm due to lack of energy, so all I could do was watch. When survival was the immediate concern, comfort food didn't come to mind, and I even craved the unappetizing food that was right in front of me.

 

Now, I don't even look at tasteless scrambled eggs, and the orange juice is too sour for me to drink. When my wife serves me bland and boring dishes typical of the Chungcheong region, her hometown, I complain, "Is this hospital food?" but as I get older, I understand that such food is good for health. Yet, I still long for the hot and spicy food I had in my childhood hometown.

 

Tomorrow, after a long time, should I ask for some thick Idaho potatoes to make potato pancakes or soy sauce braised potatoes? However, grating potatoes is tiresome, so I'll probably give up again. "What's the harm in not eating potato pancakes?" Even though it's hard enough to grate potatoes for two people, my mother used to prepare enough for eight people for many days, which is truly impressive.

 

(April 21, 2014)