What do you crave when you are sick?

Everyone it seems is sick at the moment. We were visiting friends on Friday night last week and since then, one by one, we have all fallen ill with whatever nasty cold-like bug is making the rounds. So, even more than usual, the topic of conversation in our house this week has been what to eat – what can we be bothered to make, what can we face in our weakened states and what qualifies as true comfort food? While my other half was ill, I was trying to find things to encourage him to eat and that might help. Turns out, his idea of ‘sick food’ is either (a) nothing but milky tea as he’s too worn out to try and feed himself or (b) cream of tomato soup and toast.

My soup preference would be for chicken probably but tomato is a wholesome (if slightly salty) option for those who grew up on tomato soup, who are vegetarians or who don’t mind the dairy in ‘cream of’ soups (which leaves me out). When I started to feel dodgy the other day, however, I immediately sought refuge in our favourite Indian takeaway and brought us home a spicy set meal for 2 (which since we were both sick took us two days to eat). Garlic, ginger and chilli are good for you, right? That’s my theory anyhow.

I think my ultimate sick food however has to be mashed potatoes. My mom always fed me this as a kid when I suffered with sore throats (and this was a lot). I know the traditional remedy for a child with a sore throat is ice cream but the thought of eating something so cold when I had a fever did not appeal to me in the slightest - and this is probably not the best place to start the sweet tooth vs salt tooth conversation anyway. The good thing about mashed potatoes (instant is fine in my book for these purposes) is that you can vary it based on how sick you are – bland with a bit of salt and butter if you are really in a bad way or with other flavourings such as chopped veg, canned corn, pesto, roasted garlic, sun blush tomatoes, etc. if you are needing a bit more oomph. It’s a bit like Chinese jook or congee – essentially a bland rice porridge which is fortifying and bland on its own but which can be dressed up with any number of garnishes to suit. Thousand year old eggs, anyone?

So, readers, what do you crave when you are sick?