Comfort Eating with Grace Dent

These past 18 months or so have witnessed a few of us putting some pounds on.

There’s nothing wrong with a bit of comfort eating; if you can’t wolf down enough Ferrero Rocher to shock the Belgian ambassador during a global pandemic then when can you?

We all have our comfort foods and it’s not just a particular flavour of crisps or brand of biscuits.these are dishes – if you can call them that – to soothe the soul.

A quick survey of P.S. reveals some of our favourites: how about Findus chicken and bacon crispy pancakes drizzled with curry sauce; pasta baked with lemon and old breadcrumbs; or even a Morton’s roll and salt and vinegar crisps?

Guardian food critic and Masterchef judge Grace Dent is exploring this idea with her new podcast series, Comfort Eating.

Dent may be famous for her refined palate but at home she can often be found with a plate of oven chips, gravy, and mint sauce.

The idea here is to chat to various interesting people to find out about their comfort eating habits.

Often the chat makes you hungry; recently comedian and writer Aisling Bea revealed her comfort dish, which was microwaved baked beans dumped on (toasted!) potato waffles, which had been slathered in Irish Kerrygold butter.

Finding out the reason why people like these dishes isn’t merely about ogling their guilty taste pleasures.

Dent revealed in a radio interview last week that, as a journalist, asking someone to tell you about their childhood tends to see them clam up.ask them what sweet they bought when they were sent to the off license for a parent as a child, though, gets people talking about some lovely memories.