Writing about a fight with a close person made people feel lonely. But people who were generally secure in their relationships — something that was assessed before the experiment — were able to rescue themselves from loneliness by writing about a comfort food. “We have found that comfort foods are foods which are consistently associated with those close to us,” says Troisi. “Thinking about or consuming these foods later then serves as a reminder of those close others.” In their essays on comfort food, many people wrote about the experience of eating food with family and friends.