Hygge

Hygge: a Danish word for a quality of coziness i.e. feeling warm, comfortable, and safe, that comes from doing simple things such as lighting candles, baking, or spending time at home with your family.

The word became increasingly popular a couple of years ago. (Maybe more, I’m slow to adapt to trends. I’m not yet on Facebook or Tik Tok and will likely never be). As we slide deeper into the fall season, the word ‘hygge’ keeps cropping up, inviting me to get cozy.

I’m not talking about baking or lighting candles (although I do love lighting incense in the early morning). But I’m thinking about snuggling up on the couch with my soft blanket, a book, a glass of wine, my electric fire on. The fire has no crackle or pop or warmth as with a wood fire, but the visual is what matters. Or maybe I’m doing hygge wrong?

In the past few decades, home has become so much more than the place you stash your stuff or lay your head. Today a home must reflect your lifestyle, it must be your haven, your hygge. We want it to be stylish and serene, comfortable yet chic, functional but not frumpy. It must have the stamp of our personality but not so quirky as to be considered shabby and cluttered. Home renovation and decorating shows are immensely popular and I admit to being one of HGTV’s devotees.

At this time of the year, bears go into ‘hyperphagia’, funnily enough a word that looks and sounds similar to hygge. Although I may not only be doing hygge wrong, I may be pronouncing it incorrectly as well.

When I heard about hyperphagia, naturally I looked it up. It is: an increase in feeding activity driven by a biological need to fatten up before bears go into den for the winter.

I’m thinking we humans can and should (and often do) adopt that routine ourselves, in preparation for our cold Canadian winters. What better way to get ready than to cozy up with some comforting foods?

Which leads me to my idea of good comfort foods, suitable for plumping us up during our hyperphagia:

Soup. French-onion; hearty vegetable soups; red cabbage and apple; split pea and bacon; silky butternut squash.

Chili. Preferably with white beans instead of those awful mushy red kidney ones.

Pies. Sweet, savoury, it doesn’t matter. All pies are good pies.

Bread. The more bread the better.

Pasta. My preference is for thin noodles, flavoured with garlic and basil or spicy Thai-style rather than hearty tomato-based sauces. Although those are also delicious.

Cake, especially lemon cake. But also any cake with nuts.

Popcorn. A staple in my diet.

Stews. A favourite is a piquant honey lamb stew. But I’m also envisioning hearty ragouts of venison or boar.

Pizza. Thin crust with proscuitto and arugula. I’m firmly on the side of : anchovies should be on pizza, pineapple should not.

Butter chicken. And other curries, especially Goan style (Vindaloo, sorpatel) which, to my shame, I do not know how to cook.

Hungry yet? I know I am. Excuse me while I go raid my fridge. Happy hygging.