What We Eat When We’re Sick
Every culture has its version of chicken noodle soup—or Sprite and saltines. We asked several Columbus restaurateurs and chefs to share their go-to sick-day foods.
What We Eat When We’re Sick
By Andy Dehus
Food is one thing that unites us all. Unfortunately, so is the stomach bug, to name but one of a range of pesky ailments that we as a species routinely endure.
Compassionately bridging the gap between these two stark facts of human existence lies a world of caring elders armed with timeworn recipes for comfort and revival. This flu season, we asked some of our favorite food people—whose roots span the globe—about their childhood sick-day food remedies. The nostalgic expressiveness of their answers—most sent via email or text—is often as warming as the recommendations found within.
Perhaps none more so than Brazilian Grill & Bakery’s Lawrence Ujie who responded to us via email: “The real secret ingredient in Brazil’s sick-day food isn’t about the broth, or rice or turmeric—it’s the way care gets cooked into a warm comforting bowl,” he writes. “Brazil doesn’t really treat sickness like an isolated event. When a cold creeps in, everything kind of changes: The pressure cooker goes on the stove, steam becomes the soundtrack, and someone–most likely Grandma–inevitably says, ‘Eat a little, you’ll feel better.’ The country’s sick-day soul food is warm, brothy and familiar, built on the lore that comfort foods, when cooked with love, heal you one spoonful at a time.”
Ujie goes on to write, “When we are feeling down, the classic answer is canja de galinha, Brazil’s unofficial sick-day remedy. It’s a chicken soup with a Brazilian twist: rice instead of noodles, garlic (lots of it) and onion softened into sweetness, diced potatoes, shredded carrots and often a golden tint from turmeric. It’s gentle, restorative and deeply nostalgic! I’d say it’s the culinary equivalent of a hand on your forehead checking how warm you are, and if you are lucky enough and you have a Grandma around. (I say ‘a Grandma,’ because it doesn’t have to be your Grandma, pretty much any Brazilian Grandmas will do). Canja is often paired with extra rituals: tea with lemon and honey or other herbal infusions.”