Have you have had a week from hell? You know, the kind when you have a million deadlines approaching, presentations in every class, you’ve got no car because you got rear-ended, and you’re sick as a dog? I don’t know about you, but when I have weeks like that, my body begs for something cheesy, comforting, and downright indulgent. It is the only kind of fuel powerful enough to keep me from burning out in the face of a turbulent week.
This phenomenon in which hard times call for delicious food is quite common. In fact, we can explain it using psychology:
- The brain detects a stressful event. This is called a stressor. (Ex: finals)
- The stressor will then elicit a coping response, which is anything I do to try and lessen the stressor’s effects.
- In this case, the coping response is to seek out a big bowl of delicious, cheesy, and heartwarming food then eat myself into a coma.
- This is what we refer to as “emotion-focused coping.” It doesn’t solve the problem per say, but man, do I feel better after stuffing my face with some indulgent comfort food.
See? The need for food in troubling times is completely logical. So it only then makes sense that when you find yourself fighting in the epic battle that is you vs. the world, you need something truly mouth-watering and sinful to make it through.
Last week, when I was having my own “hell week,” my mind sent me a message: “CHEESE. LOTS. PASTA. NEED NOW.”
See? That’s how bad it was. My mind was so beaten up that it could barely form a coherent sentence. Luckily, I’m pretty good at decoding the language of my own brain, so I jumped right on that. The result was this luscious Blushing Mozzarella Marinara.
