Pooja’s story
I was visiting my cousin in Pune when I got my periods. I stayed in her bed in pain and irritation waiting for her to come back from college. When she came she got me a jar of red velvet cake. Apparently, she and her friends get a whole cake on the day they start bleeding. I ate the red velvet cake, it was fresh and comforting. There is something to the food brought to you by people out of care that is hard to point at, it just comforts, like medicine.
After that every time I met my long-distance boyfriend, which was seldom and was precious, we would share a jar of red velvet cake.
What I learned about red-velvet cake and comfort food:
- The nice gooey texture and the sour-ish ting comes from curd/buttermilk. I swear dahi is the best thing humans invented.
- The red in it is just food coloring. I don’t know what I expected it to be; maybe that it would involve some processes that make it red. But no, it’s a choice. So this could have easily been blue velvet/green velvet/rainbow velvet cake!
I don’t really have a comfort food. I have phases of obsessive liking for foods. There was a year I ate burgers, the year of missal pav, the year I could not stop eating green apple yogurt to now when I dream of shawarmas after taking my night medicines. But no food got me comfort inherently, and now I get that foods don’t, memories related to the food brings you comfort. Kerala food is my comfort food starting today.
Recipe
https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/red-velvet-layer-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting/