It’s officially Nora(h) Season, a term my friend coined for these cinematic autumnal months that feel pulled from a chunky knit rom com movie. A time of year dedicated to watching Nora Ephron movies, listening to Norah Jones, sipping medium bodied red wines and the season’s first soups, making pies, wearing scarves and impractical hats, purposefully going out of your way to stomp on fallen leaves just to hear them crunch, and spending inordinate amounts of time speaking to The Maple Guy (there’s always at least one of them) at the farmers market. 

To honor the season, today’s newsletter will be dedicated to all things nostalgia, comfort, memory, and the science behind why smelling spiced cider makes you want to wrap yourself in a blanket in the corner of a floppy sofa and why the first bite of pie makes you want to hug your grandma.

The Neuroscience of Comfort Food

To understand the psychology of food nostalgia, we have to start with the neuroscience behind craving. As the temperatures drop (or tease to), it’s common to find yourself reaching for “cozy” foods—hearty stews, creamy pastas, and warm cookies. But why do we crave these particular foods when seeking comfort?

TLDR—It all comes down to brain chemistry. When we eat foods high in fat, sugar, or carbohydrates, our brains release dopamine, the "feel-good" neurotransmitter. This creates a positive association with these foods, making us more likely to reach for them when we're feeling down or stressed, emotions often associated with “wintering” and the transition from the bright summer months to the cold darker ones.

This isn’t a one way street though. The gut-brain axis is a bidirectional communication system between our digestive tract and our central nervous system, meaning it goes both ways. During times of stress, like the start of a new school year, the pre-holiday crunch time, the end of summer travel, or the start of Q4, our bodies release cortisol, the stress hormone. Cortisol also increases our cravings for high-calorie foods. The evolutionary explanation for this would be to prepare for potential food scarcity. All of that to say, there is a neuro-scientific and evolutionary explanation for why you crave cozy food in autumn. 

The Psychology of Food Nostalgia

Ok, but if it only had to do with loading up on calories, fat, sugar, and carbs, wouldn’t we all be eating vats of lard when we felt out of sorts?

Technically…kind of. But this is where the psychology of food nostalgia comes into play and why comfort foods vary depending on where and when you grew up. 

Smell and taste are senses. Senses are inextricably attached to memories, specifically what is called “flavor memory.” During early childhood development, our brains are particularly receptive to forming strong, long-lasting memories associated with senses. This means that the foods we eat during this formative period can become more deeply imprinted in our memory, than foods that become our “favorites” later on in life. 

Let me explain…or rather, let Proust—You know when you take a bite of a snack or meal and almost involuntarily feel transported to your childhood? That’s the "Proust Effect" at play. In his novel, 'In Search of Lost Time,' Marcel Proust wrote about how the taste of a Madeleine (bite sized, shell-shaped, French sponge cakes) dipped in tea brought back a flood of childhood memories. Now a “Proustian memory” is the term for any “involuntary memory triggered by a sensory experience.”

This means that psychologically, if certain flavors harken back to times of familiarity, comfort, or belonging, then those are the same ones you will crave when feeling anxious, uncomfortable, or lost. The areas of the brain responsible for processing taste and smell are closely connected to the limbic system, which is involved in emotion and memory. This is why, often, childhood snacks and holiday foods give us a momentary escape and sense of security. The neurological proximity allows for strong associations between flavors and emotional experiences.

The Unexpected History of Pie

Now that we understand why we crave what we crave, let’s delve into where one of the nation’s most craved comfort foods came from—

Pay attention, there will be a quiz!

Not really, but these are great fun facts to whip out at trivia or family dinner…

The origins of pie (Spoiler Alert: They go wayyy back)

1300s BC: Pies were first recorded in ancient Egypt, where people made galettes with oats, wheat, rye, and barley. 

500 BC: The ancient Greeks and Romans had versions filled with meat and seafood and Aristophanes’ plays mention “sweetmeats” or small pastries filled with fruit.

1400s: In medieval Europe, pies (or "pyes") were savory and made inside a "coffyn," which was a hard inedible crust—think ye olde tupperware that was made to store, prepare, and preserve the filling rather than being the yummiest, butteriest part to eat like it is today. These “pyes” sometimes even contained whole animals or birds and because forks were not common before industrialization, were eaten barbarically by hand or with a pair of knives. A lot of recipes stated to keep the “bones in” just to give people something to hold on to when chomping.

Trivia: The word “pye” supposedly comes from the word magpie—the bird known for collecting assorted odds and ends to make its nest just like cooks added whatever they had on hand to their pie. “A recipe from 1450 mentions beef, hens, rabbits, suet, egg yolks, dates, and prunes as some of the ingredients in a single high and hearty “pye.””

1500s: Queen Elizabeth I made cherry pie famous. From there, more and more sweet fruit pies gained popularity across Europe and the New World.

Trivia: The Italian Banquet, a 16th century book, mentions that some p held live birds. A baker would cut a hole into the bottom of the pastry coffyn and stuff live birds inside after the pie had cooked so that they would fly out when cutting and impress the guests. 

1700s: Pie quickly became a staple in American cuisine and started to use native ingredients that soon led to the iconic, pumpkin pie. It wasn’t until pies grew popular in the United States that the crust started to become edible. ​In The Secret History of Food (one of my favorite books that I’ve read twice this year!), Matt Siegel writes that “the scarcity of wheat in the New England colonies meant that cooks had to stretch the pastry for pies so it became thin and flaky.” British pie crusts still tend to be thicker and denser than American crusts.

1800s: Pie became so integral to American culture that "as American as apple pie" became a common phrase. The popularity of pies was, in large part, a product convenience. While the British were becoming more proper and placing higher value on etiquette, decorum, and social hierarchy, Americans were moving in the opposite direction. Pies were well suited to the get up and go lifestyle of the colonies since you could prepare them ahead and they stored and traveled well. Also, without much house help, they were easy to make without the cooking or cleaning help of servants. Pie was the opposite of the British tea tradition. It was hearty, good for travel, available on demand, “untamed, utilitarian, and unpretentious.” It became a symbol of liberation from pomp and circumstance.

Miso Brown Butter Banana Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup of unsalted butter

• 3 mashed brown bananas

• 2 tbsp white miso paste

• 1 cup brown sugar

• 1 tbsp vanilla paste

• 1 egg and 1 egg yolk

• 2 cups flour

• 1 tsp baking soda

• ½ tsp smoked salt

Instructions:

Check out the recipe on the Pepper app!

In Our Carts

Nora(h) Season calls for a home decor shift, and that means new bedding. I’ve had the Cozy Earth page open all week and love the look of their linen picks and their blanket selection. Particularly this one!

In the autumn, I swap out salad lunches for grain bowl lunches. They’re easy to prep ahead and adding the FishWife Smoked Rainbow Trout on top makes them something that I actually look forward to which helps me push past the midday slump.

There’s nothing quite like a crisp morning stroll with a cup of coffee. Recently I’ve been using this tumbler from RTIC on my early morning dog walks and loving it. The color is so chic and autumnal, it keeps my coffee warm but unlike metal insulated cups, it doesn’t stay scalding or have that metallic taste after a little while, and the handle is the perfect size.

See you next week!

Xx,

Saanya