Soup, Spaghetti and Grilled Cheese: Canadians Name Their Top Winter Comfort Foods

November 9, 2020 ctn_admin

Soup. Spaghetti and meatballs. Chili. And a grilled cheese sandwich with a bowl of tomato soup.

As the colder months approach and COVID-19 cases spike, Canadians will have to embrace lockdowns, snow days and Netflix numbness. Just in time, a new survey of Canadians has all the ingredients to offer possible successors to 2020s sourdough social craze that kept people from getting cabin fever during lockdown 1.0.

The Culinary Comfort Lockdown List, a new survey of 1,500 Canadians by Italy’s Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium, found that soups were the number one winter survival food for uncertain and chilly times.

Respondents answered the question: as a second wave of COVID unfolds and with fall/winter approaching, which foods will you seek out for comfort? Here were the main findings:

• Soups were the number one choice of Canadians. Two-thirds (65%) chose this time-honoured tradition as their go to winter wellbeing meal. Women (at 72%) were much more likely than men (57%) to choose soup to provide ease and comfort
• Spaghetti and meatballs came in next. Nearly half of respondents (46%) chose the Italian American innovation, which also has its roots in culinary traditions in the Abruzzo region of Southern Italy
• Casseroles and chili came in third (tied at 43%) on the lockdown list. Again women (at 49%) were much more likely than men (37%) to choose casseroles for a savoury solution to the deep dark winter
• Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup (42%) and other melted cheese dishes (40%) rounded out the Culinary Comfort Lockdown List

Italy’s Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium also asked what food do you most associate with Italy? Here were the top findings:

o   Pasta led the way, with more than half of respondents (54%) choosing the staple. Considering how pasta was so in demand and helped Canadians during the first wave of COVID, this is not surprising

o   Parmigiano Reggiano and pizza, two undeniably loved and inexorably linked Italian foods, were tied in second place for foods people most associate with Italy.

o   Dessert standards Gelato (11%) and Tiramisu (5%) rounded out the list.

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