We also want to experience different tastes, sometimes tastes from around the world, sometimes the familiar foods we love, with twist or an extra bit of pizzazz. So we have things like garlic mashed potatoes, 4 cheese macaroni and cheese and thin crust gourmet pizzas. We're also a population that is becoming more aware of health and making healthy food choices. With aging baby boomers creating a bulge in our populations, healthy lifestyle trends are front and center. We want fewer calories but all the taste, healthier eating with the comforts of our favorite foods. So where does this leave us? How do we combine comfort food trends with healthier lifestyle trends?

As much as we love our comfort foods many of us now look for ways to turn them into healthier choices, with a lower fat content and fewer calories. We tweak those great recipes from the past so we maintain (or sometimes even improve) the taste but forgo some of the fat, unhealthy carbs and sugar content. And while most of us are still eating our favorite comfort foods, maybe it's just a little less often. We might decide to share that piece of amazing cheesecake so we get the taste but not the pounds.

We're going back to our roots - but with a nod to healthy food choices and a few wonderful, tasty twists along the way.
About the Author

Karen Ciancio is a cook and lover of all things food and cooking related. Her website www.cookingnook.com contains recipes for comfort foods, plus lots of other recipes, cooking tips, measurement conversions and kitchen ideas.