When the term first appeared, newspapers used it in quotation marks. In the 1970s, the most popular comfort food in the United States were various potato dishes and chicken soup, but even at the time, the definition varied from person to person. Consuming energy-dense, high calorie, high fat, salt or sugar foods, such as ice cream or french fries, may trigger the reward system in the human brain, which gives a distinctive turkey borscht or temporary sense of emotional elevation and relaxation.

The identification of particular items as comfort food may be idiosyncratic, though patterns are detectable. Comfort food consumption is seen as a response to emotional stress and, consequently, as a key contributor to the epidemic of obesity in the United States. Further studies suggest that consumption of comfort food is triggered in men by positive emotions, and by negative ones in women. A therapeutic use of these findings includes offering comfort foods or “happy hour” beverages to anorectic geriatric patients whose health and quality of life otherwise decreases with reduced oral intake. A partial list by region of comfort foods around the world. This section needs additional citations for verification.