Why Comfort Food Never Goes Out of Style

There’s a reason you can walk into almost any city-on any continent-and find someone selling something hot, filling, and deeply familiar. Comfort food doesn’t care about trends. It doesn’t chase Michelin stars or TikTok fame. It just shows up, does its job, and quietly reminds people of who they are and where they come from.

Comfort food survives because it solves a basic human problem: emotional hunger. You might not even realise you’re craving it until you’re halfway through a bowl of pasta, a slice of pizza, or a plate of rice and beans, thinking, why does this feel so good?

And here’s the thing-comfort food isn’t static. It evolves with culture, migration, and time. But the emotional function stays the same.

Comfort Food Is Emotional Before It’s Culinary

Food psychologists have been saying for years that comfort food works because it’s tied to memory and identity. The smell of garlic in hot oil. The sound of something sizzling. The texture of soft bread or warm rice. These sensory cues trigger the brain in ways that go beyond taste.

You’re not just eating-you’re remembering.

A key takeaway is that comfort food often reflects childhood experiences. Not necessarily gourmet meals. More often, it’s what someone’s parent or grandparent cooked when money was tight, time was short, or emotions ran high. The brain links those moments with safety. So years later, that same dish still hits the same emotional note.

Interestingly, this is why comfort food varies wildly across cultures. In the UK, it might be a Sunday roast or fish and chips. In Italy, it’s pasta. In Japan, it’s ramen. In Kenya, it might be ugali and stew. Different dishes, same purpose.

The formula stays consistent:

• Warm
• Familiar
• Filling
• Low effort to enjoy

No instructions. No learning curve. Just eat.

Comfort Food In High-end Dining 

What’s fascinating is how even high-end dining leans into comfort when it wants to feel relevant. Look at places like Bocconcino, a classic Italian spot in the heart of Soho. It markets itself as refined, yes-but at its core, it’s built around dishes that are pure emotional insurance.

Fresh pasta. Creamy risotto. Wood-fired pizza. Tiramisu that tastes like it’s been around longer than Instagram.

It’s often listed as one of the best restaurants in central London, but what keeps people coming back isn’t innovation. It’s reliability. You know exactly what you’re getting, and that’s the point.

Notably, Italian food dominates comfort food rankings globally because it balances richness with simplicity. Olive oil, tomatoes, cheese, slow-cooked sauces. These are ingredients that don’t fight you-they cooperate. They feel generous.

And in cities like London, where dining options are endless and attention spans are short, comfort wins because it removes decision fatigue. You don’t need to decode the menu. You already trust it.

Comfort Food Thrives During Uncertain Times

There’s a clear pattern in food history: when the world gets unstable, people retreat into the familiar.

During the Great Depression, simple stews and casseroles became staples. During COVID, banana bread and homemade pasta went viral. Right now, with global inflation and political tension, comfort food is once again dominating menus.

Restaurants know this. They see the data.

Instead of pushing risky concepts, many venues are leaning into dishes that feel emotionally “safe”-mac and cheese, fried chicken, burgers, ramen, shawarma. Even fine dining menus are quietly becoming less experimental and more nostalgic.

Why? Because when people are stressed, they don’t want surprises. They want reassurance.

And food is one of the fastest ways to get it.

The Modern Twist: Comfort Food Gets Global

What’s changed is that comfort food is no longer limited to your own culture. Migration, travel, and social media have expanded what people consider “familiar.”

A Londoner might now find comfort in Korean fried chicken. A New Yorker might crave Lebanese wraps. A student in Nairobi might feel at home eating sushi.

This is where places like Poke Shack come in.

Poke, originally a Hawaiian dish, is now a global comfort food. Raw fish, rice, fresh toppings. It’s light but filling. Customisable but predictable. You build your bowl, but you never feel lost.

In the middle of a workday, it’s the kind of meal that feels healthy without being boring. It’s also one of the most searched “healthy food near me” queries in urban areas.

Interestingly, this shows how comfort food has shifted from being purely indulgent to being emotionally efficient. People want food that:

• Feels good.
• Doesn’t slow them down.
• Still tastes like something they trust.

Poke fits that perfectly.

Why Simplicity Always Wins

Another reason comfort food never goes out of style? It’s structurally simple.

No complicated plating. No obscure ingredients. No need for culinary explanations.

This makes it scalable. Street food. Fast casual. Fine dining. Home kitchens. Comfort food works in every format.

It also explains why food trends rarely replace comfort food-they just remix it. Burgers become gourmet. Pizza gets truffle oil. Fried chicken becomes Korean-style.

But at the core, it’s still the same emotional blueprint:
Salt + fat + carbs + heat.

That combination is almost impossible for the human brain to ignore.

And brands that understand this don’t chase novelty-they refine familiarity.

Comfort Food Isn’t About Luxury-It’s About Control

Here’s something people don’t talk about enough: comfort food gives people a sense of control.

You might not control your job. Your rent. The news cycle. But you can control what you eat. And choosing something familiar feels like reclaiming a small part of stability.

That’s why comfort food performs so well in delivery culture. When everything is digital, delayed, and unpredictable, people want at least one part of their day to be guaranteed.

Food becomes that anchor.

You order what you already know you like. You avoid risk. You avoid disappointment. You protect your mood.

It’s not about being adventurous. It’s about feeling okay.

The Bottom Line: Comfort Is Cultural Capital

Comfort food has outlived every dining trend because it adapts without losing its core purpose. It absorbs new cultures, new formats, new health standards-but it never abandons emotional familiarity.

And you see this clearly in places like Cilantro, a Lebanese restaurant that thrives by doing one thing extremely well: serving food that feels like home, even if it’s not your home.

Grilled meats. Warm flatbreads. Hummus. Rice. Spices that feel comforting rather than challenging. It regularly shows up in searches for “best Middle Eastern restaurant near me,” not because it’s experimental, but because it’s dependable.

Lebanese cuisine works as comfort food because it’s built around sharing, abundance, and warmth. The dishes aren’t meant to impress-they’re meant to connect people.

And connection is the real currency of comfort food.

Why It’ll Never Disappear

Trends rely on attention. Comfort relies on memory.

One fades. The other deepens.

As long as humans associate food with emotion-and they always will-comfort food will remain essential. It will keep evolving. It will keep absorbing new flavours. But it will never stop doing the same fundamental job: making people feel okay, even when everything else feels uncertain.

So the next time you find yourself ordering the same dish for the hundredth time, don’t feel boring. You’re not stuck in a routine-you’re participating in one of the oldest human behaviours on earth.

Eating to feel better.

And that’s a tradition no trend can replace.