Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Tuesday Tropes: Comfort Food

 
At the end of a long day, Janet wants to relax and cozy up with a ... wait a sec - they're gone! Janet scrounges and looks, but can't find her secret treat? Had the kids eaten them? The husband. She doesn't know, but if she doesn't get her fix soon, someone's gonna pay!

Comfort Food - a favorite food item that a character will often turn to in moments of stress or anxiety as a means to self sooth and provide ... comfort. It can take the form of a common commodity or a bizarre dish. It's a downright obsession!
It would be wise to stock up on your favorite confections, whatever they are. They're harder to come by during a zombie apocalypse ...

"Hmm ... Twinkies ..."

Comfort Food results after eating certain kinds of foods, frequently, as a child (homemade or storebought), which then develops into an euphoric, nostalgic state each time a bite is taken. If someone hasn't had this food in a while, it can smack them like a blast from the past.

"Mommy ..."

Chocolate is universally accepted as Comfort Food, given its healthy properties (unlike the milky, sugary variety), making its appearance frequently in stories and the desks of authors who write them. It's enough to lift any foul mood after a brief visit from dementors ...

"I need a King-Sized Hershey after this ..."

Characters have to eat. Food plays an important part in stories. They can say a lot about a character. Be it a simple treat, a glazed cruller, or something random, like a jelly bean and pickle sandwich, if it makes the character feel better, it served its purpose. Or, if that food item is taken away or hard to find, desperation can be quite ... delicious!

And since it's election day, you know we'll be munching ...

How you given your characters Comfort Food? What do you like to eat that relieves what ales you? Did I make you hungry?

I'm David, and real men get cheesburgers - not medical treatment.

24 comments:

  1. I did in my third book. Byron's son has a comfort treat.

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  2. I realized last night that I've got way to many food scenes in my nano, and it's only Nov. 6. I'm gonna have to do some editing...but it all just sounds so yummy. Sushi, Thai curry, lobster. Sigh.

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  3. I do use some foods in my story. But I try to limit the sitting around eating and talking as it's too little action going on.

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  4. I've never used comfort food. But I have used food as an issue in several of my books. (Food is such a great metaphor for relationships and character.) In one book, a character faces starvation. In my YA series, the MC a teen guy who likes meat and pizza has a mom that serves tofu and wheat grass juice.

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  5. LOL the pic from Zombieland with Woody sniffing the twinkie is awesome. That's a great trope. That's the first movie I remember seeing Emma Stone in. Now she's everywhere of course. I predict that she'll hook up with Ryan Gosling and produce super beautiful children since they seem to be doing movies together.

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  6. I like homemade chocolate pudding. My MC tends to eat greasy fish and chips. I've got to go binge now.

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  7. Nutella. Now I can go back up and read your post. :D

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  8. I have this trope myself! Nothing a bit of chocolate can't fix! Or a lot of chocolate :D

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  9. I saw the word Food and I immediately clicked this post, lol. Harry Potter taught me chocolate really does make you feel better ;)

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  10. Does the dragon in my next novel who likes raw meat count as using comfort food as a device?
    I could use some peanut butter cups to get me through election night.

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  11. I'm off to get some chips and salsa,...and maybe I should write it in for one of my characters too :)

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  12. For me it is the miniature Milky Way bars. But when I first moved to Manila to teach and write, it wasn't long before I was wanting a Burger King Whopper so bad I'd have swam to Tokyo. Thankfully, they have both of my go to foods here.

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  13. I'm Italian. Food is central to everything. My characters might eat a whole lot more than is necessary. But that's probably because I do too. LOL

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  14. Comfort food for my characters ... an interesting thought. I haven't done that yet, but I should consider it. In my last book, the main characters were a 13 year old boy and an 18 year old boy living alone together. They basically ate everything in sight and blamed each other for the empty refrigerator. Does that count? :D

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  15. My current WIP centers around a tea recipe that may or may not have actual love potion capabilities. How about a comfort drink?

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  16. I like your new blog design. Niiiice. :)

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  17. I've never given my characters comfort food... interesting idea (notice how I didn't say "food for thought" because that would be cheesy :P). I do want to try Shawarma after Iron Man's mention of it on The Avengers.

    Allison (Geek Banter)

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  18. Hmm, I know I've given my characters comfort drinks, but I don't know if I've ever done it with food. I'm gonna have to think about that one.

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  19. Wow, I never thought about that! I mean, I DID, but I never thought about giving that to my characters. Very interesting! Maybe I'll have to do that.

    Oh, and chocolate does it for me. It's always so perfect!

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  20. This is an excellent trope! A page out of the book of my life. I am going to have to see if I can't find a place to insert this into my NaNo project this month. It's better than the killer shovel. *wink*

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  21. Just read your post while munching on a chocolate bar and BAM! I feel like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar! Never thought though I could put that in my characters. Now that's an interesting thought...

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  22. Love this post, especially the clip . . .cheeseburger first.
    My comfort food is definitely chocolate . . .although a certain style of potato chips do pretty well too. I don't have my characters eat much . . .something I may have to change.

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