Simple Comfort Foods

Most Americans think of comfort food as macaroni and cheese, clam chowder, or meat loaf—foods evocative of good and happy times, cozy childhoods, and cheerful family meals around the kitchen table. Vietnamese cuisine has its own set of comfort dishes—rice porridge, curry, spiced beef stew, and others—all easy-to-make foods whose mere mention makes everyone happier. My grandmother remembers a time when comfort food came only from the home kitchen. But today these dishes are on the menus of many of the restaurants in Little Saigon.