Grandma foods

At times of upheaval, people turn to comfort food. In early COVID, for example, it was the processed foods of childhood - cans of Chef Boyardee or fistfuls of Goldfish crackers.

- By PAMELA PAUL

We seek these foods, food experts say, because they remind us of our childhood and the people who took care of us. Mac and cheese makes us think about Mom. Hot dogs evoke Sundays at the game with Dad.

So what does it mean then, teetering on the brink of Trump Again, I've turned to what I think of as grandma food? Instead of indulging in the madeleines of my childhood (Lucky Charms, SpaghettiOs, TV dinners) I've found myself eating things I would never have touched as a child. Foods that even throughout adulthood, I've thought of as uninteresting or worse.

The first sign of trouble was digestives, those bland, seemingly useless cookies eaten by British people. Even the name is repulsive. Cookies aren't meant to be good for you. But developed in Scotland in the 19th century, the digestive biscuit was believed to aid digestion, a matter of keen interest to an older demographic. In other words, it is the stewed prune of snack food, a thing expressly intended for the mature eater.