Jammed again

Scraping the bottom of the jar
London, ON
February 2017

We all have comfort foods, and one of mine is, strangely, jam or jelly. I think it derives from when I was a munchkin in the hospital and they served it in those plastic-and-foil disposable packets at mealtime. I especially liked the marmalade, and for some reason these little packets became something to look forward to every time the food cart rattled it way across the overwaxed floors into the 6th floor paeds ward.

Strange what we remember, no?

So to this day, I seem to linger over jars of jam at breakfast. I'll often take a couple of jars out of the fridge and plop them on the kitchen table, only to ultimately choose to shmear something else on my bagel. But eating it isn't necessarily the point: Somehow, the mere act of having it nearby is enough to bring comfort before I finish off and head out into the world.

Eventually, however, every jar reaches the bottom. A photo before it hits the recycling bin is a lovely reminder of why a seemingly innocuous breakfast treat deserves to be remembered in the first place.

Your turn: What's your comfort food? Why?

Related:

• Jammed (October 2006)
• Jammed redux (November 2006)
• Jammed, encore (April 2007)
• Jammed Up (May 2010)