Feeling under the weather? Try some comfort food from yesteryear

When you were little, and feeling poorly, what food did you eat to soothe the boo-hoos? Charlotte Morgan explores childhood comfort food.

It was a badly executed somersault off the bed which led to my first broken bone, aged nine. Sniffling and arm in sling, I returned home from hospital feeling exceptionally sorry for myself. No amount of TV would cheer me, nor did a new teddy bear… but when mum returned from the kitchen with my favourite ‘poorly girl food’ – a sliced banana and honey sandwich – I was happy again.

Edible comfort blankets

Fast forward a few years, and my favourite poorly girl food switched to Marmite soldiers with a boiled egg. The egg had to sit in my favourite moo cow egg cup, the toast had to be brown bread and oozing with a buttery Marmite mix, and the yolk had to be runny – if every part of that equation was right, then I’d find it hard to feel ill afterwards.

Now, at the age of 25, Marmite soldiers and boiled egg is still my favourite poorly girl food. Wide eyed and bottom lip quivering, I can still persuade my mum to make it for me, and when I cracked my elbow a few months back while living away from home, I made it for myself every night for a week, as a kind of edible comfort blanket.

From cheesy mash to Lucozade

Every little girl and boy gets ill, and every little girl and boy has their favourite ‘poorly food’. It varies from family to family: both my brother and sister were also medicated with banana and honey sandwiches, or marmite soldiers and boiled eggs; lovefood News Editor Simon felt better for penne pasta with cheese and black pepper; John, editor of lovemoney.co.uk, had potato, cheese and butter mashed together (but gives his young son Finley waffles and fish fingers); and the two ladies who sit by me in the office, Natalie (from Scotland) and Carmen (from Spain), had tomato soup and lemonade respectively, perfectly reflecting the climates of where they were brought up.

Intrigued by the variety of poorly foods out there, I put the question out to our Facebook and Twitter fans. Just like Natalie, tomato soup was a common favourite (“It always made everything better!” said Shel Rathor), as was Lucozade (“But only when it came in a glass bottled covered in orange cellophane,” said Jacqui McKinnon) and chicken soup.

There were a few more unusual choices in there, too: Sammy Lou had cheesy mashed potatoes on toast, Shaz Gray liked mash and gravy with a cold glass of Irn-Bru, Maunika Gowardhan felt better for piping hot deep fried crispy onion pakoras, and Gourmet Anglia said crustless salmon sandwiches and lemonade.

What was your favourite poorly food? Or what poorly food do you give to your children? We’d love to know, so tell us in the Comments box below.

This is a classic lovefood article 

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