What’s your favorite comfort food?

People say that comfort food can soothe anything — whether it’s heartache over a bad breakup, stress over school or work, or even anger over being wronged.

I remember growing up looking forward to weekends with my family having my lola’s baked chicken while exchanging stories about the past week. With my own family now, I try to gather us together for dinner as often as possible while enjoying our favorite comfort foods

MARILOU KOA, general manager, Escada: Our family’s comfort food includes frozen siomai from Wanton Restaurant in Greenhills, French toast made from day-old baguettes, and Nurenburg sausage from Mickey’s Deli along Jupiter. These are easy meals that can be prepared in 30 minutes or less.

TINA HERRERA, producer, Runaway Productions: To feel better I drink green tea, ginger tea, and anything with citrus like lemonade, orange juice, calamansi juice to get fluids back in body and flush out toxins. But the staple for me, the comfort food I always look for is my mom’s chicken soup and chocolates.

LUIS MANZANO, actor: Definitely Lucky Me! Noodles. I can eat it whenever I want and easily share it with anyone over long kwentuhans and bonding sessions.

JOJO LASTIMOSA, basketball player: I don’t really have a specific “comfort food” but I can’t go a week without vegetables and fish. I am the health-conscious one in our family and my wife makes sure that I always have my supply of bangus and veggies during dinner.

RIA TRILLO, news anchor: My favorite comfort food right now is an icy, cold milkshake made with choco malt powder, peanut butter and honey (and sometimes a banana). I share it with my four-year-old daughter who enjoys helping me make it.

AMY BESA, owner, Cendrillon Restaurant in New York, author, Memories of Philippine Kitchens: Since Romy and I do not have kids, our sense of family is truly rooted in the restaurant and the customers who have become very good friends through the years. Every night, Romy and I make it a point to eat together, and sometimes, our friends ask us to join them for a late meal. Naturally, it is always Pinoy food that comforts us: spring rolls that my grandmother made for me as a child (and are now on our menu as Amy’s spring rolls) or chicken inasal marinated in calamansi juice. 

Cuapao is a recent menu item and quite addictive made with Romy’s homemade steamed bun stuffed with grilled slices of red-braised pork belly and pickled radish and singkamas.

TONY MELOTO, founder, Gawad Kalinga: We are very close as a family although lately we are rarely together. Anna, our eldest is based in the bay area with her two-year-old Ariel and six-month-old Chloe to join husband Dylan spread the GK message of hope  in the US. Wowie, the second girl, got married to a GK volunteer in LA where they are now based. Jay, my only son, is now based with his new bride in Bicol helping typhoon victims. Youngest Camille is coming home next week from San Francisco to find her calling. We are connected via text, e-mail, Vonnage almost daily.

We raised our family to live simply and healthy. Our comfort foods are local fish, bangus and tilapia, and local veggies prepared the Ilonggo (me), Kapangpangan (my wife Lyn), or Bicol (Jay) way. Chicken, more than beef or pork, is our preferred meat. When together, we eat a lot, laugh a lot and talk a lot, mostly about our dream and passion of building a beautiful country we can be proud of.

CRICKETTE TANTOCO, VP, Merchandising and Marketing, Rustans Supermarkets, Inc.: The members of my family have very varied taste in food. My daughters love sweets, especially chocolate. My husband and son are  carnivores so steak is their comfort food. I, on the other hand, love Filipino dishes such as sinigang and kare-kare. However, there is one dish that is a staple in our home — favada. This is a something you will find in our dining table for regular days, special days, and holidays. We all love favada because I guess it has a little bit of everything: sauce, beans, pork, chorizo, and it’s packed with flavor to boot.       

Dining together is one of the most important rituals that we undertake as  a family. We sit together for meals and we stay for hours at the dining table, especially on weekends. We talk about everything, from the kids’  activities, grades, vacation plans and parties, to anything else that comes up. We laugh a lot and definitely eat a lot. Many times, we are also joined by the friends of our children or my sisters and brother. 

CHARLENE GONZALES MUHLACH, host, Proudly Filipina: Apart from Jollibee, our family loves eating kare-kare and  menudong giniling. Our twins Atasha and Andres can’t have enough of pizza, spaghetti, and other pasta dishes, which Aga and I also like.

VENISE LAUREL, general manager, House of Laurel: Carbonara always puts a smile on our faces. On cooler days, we love eating chocolate fondue and cheese fondue. And to celebrate the  start of the weekend and the end of a hard week, the kids look forward to making pizza from scratch with their dad every Friday night.

Filipinos love to celebrate and eat. Our family does not have to have a party to eat!