"Soul Food"

"Soul Food"... "Southern Cooking" ... "Comfort Food"...

For my money, if it brings you mentally back to a calmer, safer, easier place, it's one of these categories.

The above meal, from Tom's Home Cooking in Five Points, Denver Colorado, is a perfect example of all those categories. Fresh, Cornmeal-Crusted Fried Catfish that somehow escapes that 'greasy' catfish flavor and texture and is just crisp, clean, and amazing. Macaroni and Cheese, that classic Comfort Food, so velvety and rich. And the Collard Greens. Collards that, somehow, without the addition of smoked ham or bacon, are some of the best I've ever eaten. Accented with my favorite Tobasco Vinegar... This meal took me back to childhood (When, it should be noted, I'd never heard of most of these foods) and just a simple time when food was about love (hence the "Soul Food" moniker) and the preparation that went into it. The community and the safety of easier times.

All that with Collard Greens. Maybe there's hope for the world, after all. Until then, there's Macaroni and Cheese.