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+---
+title: '#reverb10, day 26: Soul Food'
+date: '2010-12-26T21:56:31-05:00'
+permalink: /reverb10-day-26-soul-food/
+tags:
+    - '#reverb10'
+    - reflecting
+---
+
+Today’s — hey, it may be the 27th where I am, but it’s still the 26th according to the server — prompt:
+
+> Soul food. What did you eat this year that you will never forget? What went into your mouth & touched your soul?
+
+Honestly? Everything. I’m slightly more than half Italian, and was raised in Louisiana, a family in which the equation between food and love was inescapable. Food is what we celebrate with, what we mourn with, what we console ourselves with.
+
+As a result, we struggle with all the diet-related health problems, but we’re awfully happy.
+
+In the spirit of the question, though, I could recount a few really extraordinary meals here — such as my pal Shhh’s utterly astonishing Thanksgiving feast — but for better or for worse, the things I eat that most “touch my soul” (and yes, I am trying not to wince) are comfort foods. And for me, comfort foods are those that achieve the perfect balance of carbs, fat, and salt, in a warm, creamy mixture.
+
+Macaroni and cheese tops the list. Really good mashed potatoes are not far behind.
+
+When it comes to these foods, some part of me will forever be eight years old. And given that I live mostly alone, responsible for no one’s eating other than my own, I fall back on these comfort foods more often than I’d like to admit. Especially when I’m stressed out, or unhappy, or lonely, or whathaveyou.
+
+So be it. I try to eat as well as I can as much as I can, so that I can let myself indulge when I like. I’ve been blessed with good genes — the women in my mother’s family live very long lives, untroubled by high cholesterol or blood pressure — and my natural impulse is in general toward a fruit and vegetable and whole-grain oriented diet, so I’m just not going to sweat my mac-and-cheese addiction. It could be worse, and it makes me happy. Which is all anyone could ask for, I suppose.
+