Comfort food means…
- Ice cream.
- Chocolates.
- Pizza with lotsa cheese toppings.
- Potato chips.
- and the list goes on…
In stressful and manic times, I find solace in scooping a favorite flavor of ice cream or savoring a bar of dark chocolate and everything becomes OK in a heartbeat.
Last weekend, I never thought my feet will bring me again to a small restaurant in Plaza Gurney to try a snack set for the second time. Perhaps, because it took me 7 months of waiting for my craving for that warm and tasteful congee to be satisfied and this Chinese food place called, “I Love Yoo” which has a branch also at the food court of Queensbay Mall, Penang doesn’t disappoint.
This set of comfort food is different for it’s rich in history.
Just before eating those deeply fried bread called ‘Yoo tiaw’ by dunking it piece a by piece on the congee,poster about it on the restaurant’s wall caught my attention.
“Legend has it that the Yoo tiao is first created during the Song dynasty by two people. It was previously known as “chua kwai”, loosely translated– fried devil.
How did it all begin? It all started with a murder conspiracy.
Jealous of the dynasty’s most loyal and devoted General- Yu Fei, Grand councilor Qin Kuai and his wife plotted and schemed and murdered the General at Fengboting. This injustice attracted a massive public outcry.
At that time, there was a food vendor that sold fried foodstuff. Hearing about the wrongful death of the General, the food vendor, in his rage, immediately sculpted miniatures of two people -one to represent the Grand Councilor and the other to represent his wife –from dough. Twisting them together with their backs facing each other, he then threw the dough into the wok filled with hot oil and shouted, “Come see, Kuai, being deep fried!” “Come see, Kuai, being deep fried!”.
When passers-by heard about Kuai being deep fried, they crowded around his stall and knew who those two figures represented. As they ate, they continued with the chanting and yelled out to others, “Come see, Kuai, being deep fried!”.
The Yoo tiao may come fro origins such as this, but this delicious Chinese snack lived on through the ages and can now be found everywhere in the world. There is a saying that goes, “Wherever the Chinese are, there you’d find, Yoo tiao.”
I have never been fascinated with a snack’s origin until I’ve tasted Yoo tiao.
Have you?
What’s your favorite comfort food?
Enjoy your weekend, everyone! God bless.
beyond toxicity @ docgelo.com 
hmmm that one looks yummy especially now that i’m not feeling well, that congee will surely help. i haven’t tried drinking soya milk.. what does it taste.
my comfort food would be:
1. ice cream
2. junk food
3. fried chicken
4. coffee (hmmmm)
good point! i missed out describing what soya drink tastes like. it’s like drinking chilled taho. sarap!
and i forgot to include coffee in my list. you know i’m a coffee addict too!
starbucks or even 3-in-1 FTW!
i sometimes go to great lengths to know certain food that i like/discover and my ever supportive husband enables me. LoL he lets me buy cookbooks in which most of the ingredients are not available in Manila. i just read the recipe, imagine how to cook them and know their history. I have this southern cookbook in which almost every recipe has some history behind it. recipes like fried green tomatoes, Mississippi mudpie etc.
My comfort food? anything chocolate, leche flan and my mom’s picadillo.
i’m lazy at reading, ingrid. i know i should improve on that.
there are a lot of interesting read for me to enjoy. still have to consider reading cookbooks perhaps in the future when gabby and i enrol in culinary when he grows older.
and yes, the manual of my camera and online forum about photography are yet to be given time to read as well.
oh yes, who doesn’t love leche flan!
Congee and soy milk for breakfast? Yes, please!
Quite obviously, my comfort foods include chocolate (hehehe), macaroni and cheese, papaitan, pancit palabok, and barbecued liempo on a mound of hot rice. 😀
what an interesting story. =) i dont have any food in mind to comfort me when I’m depressed, but pancit canton with hard-boiled egg makes me happy. =)
Interesting story behind this food.
docgelo, ang comfort food ko lahat ng asa list mo! he he!
totoo kaya yung story na yan? di rin sila galit na galit ano? ikaw naman docgelo di mo naman naimagine si “Kuai” habang kumakain ka? he he!
the chinese civilization is too old that there seems to be a story behind everything they do or eat. this one’s really really interesting.
pareho tayo ng comfort food – lately i’ve been running to the taqueria for comfort – more times than necessary 🙂
hapi wik end. long wkend dito – pero puro chores naman nasa listahan, hay buhay!
I love congee but I prefer to have it with tokwa and baboy immersed in a combo of vinegar, soy sauce, garlic and pepper on the side. I can’t wait to try it with yoo tiao,whatever that devil is LOL.