Comfort food: how to create products with sensory appeal

Date: 03/07/2026

Comfort food has evolved beyond being merely a reference to nostalgic dishes or traditional recipes. In the food industry, the concept has become a guiding principle for product development decisions, ingredient selection, sensory design and standardization at scale.

More than replicating familiar flavors, the challenge lies in understanding which attributes create a perception of comfort, how these attributes can be translated into stable formulations and how ingredients, processes and technical support help deliver this experience consistently.

In this article, you will learn about:

What is comfort food

Comfort food is, at its core, food associated with pleasure, familiarity and a sense of well-being. The concept is subjective and influenced by individual experiences, memories and cultural context. For this reason, it is not a rigid technical category but rather a segment driven by sensory and emotional appeal.

The relationship between emotion and memory is central to the concept. Literature reviewed by Charles Spence associates comfort food with the recollection of positive thoughts and past social interactions. In addition, studies on nostalgia triggered by foods and aromas show that memories associated with smell and taste tend to carry strong emotional content. As a result, a “comforting” product is rarely defined by flavor alone; it evokes memories and sensations.

The most common examples vary according to age, gender, cultural background and occasion, but the literature frequently cites soups, hot home-style meals, pasta, pizza, chocolate, cookies and ice cream. A classic study by Wansink found that men tend to prefer hot, meal-based comfort foods such as soups and casseroles, while women are more likely to choose dessert-oriented options such as chocolate and ice cream.

These studies demonstrate that the physiological appeal of comfort food lies in its ability to activate pleasure responses, sensory satiety and reward mechanisms. Creamy textures, familiar aromas, warmth, body, fat, carbohydrates and high palatability help create an immediate sense of satisfaction.

Why is the comfort food trend growing?

The growth of comfort food is linked to consumers’ search for well-being in an environment marked by everyday pressures. Euromonitor included the “Comfort Zone” among its leading global trends for 2026, reporting that 58% of consumers experience moderate to extreme levels of daily stress. This scenario encourages demand for products that convey emotional security, simplicity and ingredients perceived as comforting.

Consumer behavior has also changed. According to consulting firm McKinsey, several habits acquired during the pandemic have persisted. Beyond technological changes such as digitalization, consumers have increased their engagement in at-home activities and continue to seek greater convenience. This pattern favors comfort food products because they offer accessible indulgence, familiarity and convenience.

Within this new context, indulgent and healthy products are no longer treated as opposites. Innova points out that indulgence remains essential in a stressful environment but has evolved into an experience involving mood, occasion, tradition and even perceived support for well-being. Meanwhile, IFT reports that comfort ranked among the most sought-after product attributes by consumers in 2025, while price, flavor, nutritional content and convenience continue to influence purchasing decisions.

How does the industry translate comfort food into products?

In the food industry, the concept of comfort food only creates value when it becomes part of product formulation. The challenge for brands is to transform something highly subjective into attributes perceived as welcoming, pleasurable and capable of generating a sense of physical comfort, including sensory satiety and immediate well-being. Among these attributes are creaminess, juiciness, palatability, crunchiness, cooking aromas, body, flavor persistence, serving temperature and consistency of the sensory experience throughout shelf life.

All these factors reinforce that comfort food is not solely about flavor. Recent literature on mouthfeel highlights that oral sensation is a central component of food acceptance. In other words, a product may have the “right flavor” and still fail if it delivers inadequate body or melt characteristics, insufficient crunchiness or a mouthfeel that does not align with its promise of comfort. The use of natural flavors, for example, serves not only to intensify flavor but also to enrich the sensory experience and evoke memories.

This reasoning also extends to texture, where functional ingredients play complementary roles. While soy proteins support moisture retention and juiciness, breadcrumbs act as crunch modulators. Together, these solutions illustrate how the industry converts technical specifications into a genuine comfort food experience.

Which formulation factors create a comfort food experience?

The perception of comfort food is built through a combination of sensory stimuli that influence how consumers perceive a product before, during and after consumption. In formulation, this involves attributes capable of creating familiarity, pleasure, contrast and consistency between expectation and experience.

Creaminess

Creaminess is one of the attributes most strongly associated with the perception of comfort food because it combines body, softness, smoothness and a mouthfeel fullness. In products such as sauces, fillings, desserts and dairy preparations, this experience depends on how fat, proteins and water are structured within the formulation.

In industrial practice, this involves a well-structured emulsion, lipid phase stability, water retention and the development of a uniform texture. When these elements are properly balanced, the product delivers a softer, fuller-bodied and more continuous sensory experience.

Temperature and texture

Temperature and texture complete the sensory experience. These characteristics can alter the perception of flavor, melting behavior, residual fat sensation, thickness and body. A soup, sauce, filling or breaded product may lose part of its appeal when heating performance, texture and thermal response fail to meet consumer expectations.

Aroma

Aroma plays a particularly important role because it is directly connected to memory and emotion. Cooking notes, broth, toasted, roasted, buttery, spicy and home-cooked aromas can trigger emotional associations even before the first bite.

In comfort food, this dimension is strategic. Consumers evaluate not only flavor and texture but also the sense of familiarity, warmth and recognition created by the overall aromatic profile.

Crunchiness

Crunchiness functions as a sensory contrast. It creates anticipation, reinforces perceptions of freshness and contributes to an immediate impression of quality. In breaded products, snacks and products with distinct crust and interior textures, this effect depends on factors such as microstructure, ingredient particle size and surface response during preparation.

For this reason, crunchiness should not be treated merely as a visual finishing attribute. It forms part of the product’s sensory signature and helps differentiate “crunch” and “crispy” experiences according to the intensity and type of fracture perceived during biting.

The challenge of sensory consistency at industrial scale

Creating a comfort food experience within a formulation is only part of the challenge. At industrial scale, the most complex aspect is ensuring that the same experience is consistently replicated across thousands of units, throughout different production batches, with the lowest possible level of variation.

This requires process control, parameter standardization, and continuous sensory quality monitoring. After all, attributes such as creaminess, juiciness, aroma, crispiness, and texture cannot rely solely on subjective perception. They must be translated into technical specifications, control limits, and evaluation criteria that can be applied throughout routine production.

The inherent characteristics of food products, which change depending on processing and storage conditions, add another layer of complexity. For example, raw materials may vary in terms of:

● Composition
● Moisture content
● Fat content
● Protein profile
● Particle size distribution
● Freshness
● Thermal variation

In addition, seasonal factors, storage conditions, and subtle process variations can directly affect the perception of familiarity and enjoyment that defines comfort food products.

Functional ingredients also play an important role in this process. Extracts, proteins, fats, flavors, and coating systems can help reduce variability by improving moisture retention and reinforcing texture. When properly applied, these solutions help transform a desired sensory profile into a reproducible standard at scale.

What should be considered when developing products with a comfort food appeal?

Developing a product with comfort food appeal requires more than selecting ingredients associated with pleasure, indulgence, or nostalgic memories. The key objective is to translate a sensory concept into clear formulation parameters, manufacturing requirements and performance targets throughout the product’s shelf life.

Defining the sensory profile

The first step is to define precisely the experience the product is intended to deliver. It is important to remember that comfort food is a broad concept and, on its own, does not provide sufficient guidance for product development. The ideal approach is to specify exactly what the intended sensory proposition should achieve. See the example in the table below.

Sensory profile

Sensory attribute	What to define in the formulation	What it conveys to the consumer
Creaminess	Dense or light	A sense of body, softness and fullness
Crispiness	Dry or aerated	Contrast, freshness, and an immediate perception of quality
Aroma	Slow cooking or baked	Familiarity, emotional memory and a sense of home-style preparation
Juiciness and bite	High juiciness or firmer bite	Oral pleasure, moisture retention, and a perception of a well-executed product

Without this map, the product risks combining attributes that seem attractive in isolation but do not build a coherent experience. The formulation must respond to a clearly defined sensory expectation, capable of guiding tests, ingredient adjustments, process parameters, and acceptance criteria.

Stability of formulation and sensory shelf life

The second point is ensuring that the product maintains its sensory delivery over time. In comfort food products, losing body, crunchiness, aroma, juiciness, or cooking notes means compromising precisely what sustains the perception of comfort.

For this reason, shelf life should not be assessed only based on safety or the physicochemical integrity of the food. It is also essential to observe how texture, aroma, appearance, taste, and mouthfeel evolve during storage, transport, preparation, and consumption. Factors such as temperature, humidity, oxygen, light, packaging, and ingredient interactions can alter the sensory performance of the product.

Cost per performance

The third point is evaluating cost based on delivered performance. In price-pressured categories, the most appropriate ingredient is not necessarily the most premium one, but the one that delivers the desired sensory effect with consistency, yield, and compatibility with the industrial process.

For this reason, both the direct cost of the ingredient and its contribution to texture, stability, standardization, loss reduction, ease of application, and final consumer perception are considered. In comfort food, the technical choice must support the experience, whether developing a more full-bodied sauce, a creamier filling, or a more familiar aroma.

How MBRF maintains its commitment to delivering quality products to the industry

MBRF operates through an integrated chain, which enables full traceability of products. In addition, the brand continuously invests in research, innovation, and technology to offer ingredients focused on industrial performance. In this way, the company provides greater control over raw materials, ingredient quality, and the development of solutions aligned with the needs of the food industry.

This point is especially relevant in comfort food products, because this type of application depends on sensory predictability. It is not enough for the ingredient to work in a single formulation; it must perform well in the production process, maintain stability between batches, and contribute to attributes such as creaminess, juiciness, crunchiness, aroma, body, and texture.

Portfolio connected to the sensory experience

In the Food Ingredients portfolio, MBRF brings together solutions that directly address the main comfort food attributes. Soy Proteins, for example, can contribute to liquid retention, texture, consistency, and juiciness. Breadcrumb Systems help build different levels of crunchiness and texture, depending on particle size and the intended application.

NatSense Natural Flavors enhance taste, aroma, and sensory experience, while meat extract can contribute to body, flavor depth, sensory stability, and batch-to-batch standardization in broths, sauces, processed meats, and ready meals. Ingredients like these help transform desired attributes such as “creamier”, “crunchier”, “juicier”, or “more homemade” into technical formulation and performance parameters.

Technical support for industrial application

Beyond the ingredient itself, MBRF also stands out for the technical support provided according to each application’s needs. This support is important because the performance of an ingredient depends on factors such as product matrix, thermal process, moisture, interaction with other components, preparation time, and sensory objective.

In breaded systems, for example, technical support can assist in selecting the most appropriate particle size for the expected crunchiness. In soy-based solutions, it can guide adjustments related to texture, liquid retention, and formulation behavior. Across the portfolio, this support helps align development, production, and final consumer perception.

Ingredient, process and predictability

In B2B products, ingredient selection must consider more than the technical datasheet. What is at stake is the ability to deliver consistency, yield, stability, and compatibility with the industrial process.

For comfort food applications, this means developing products capable of maintaining their sensory promise at scale: a breaded coating with consistent crunchiness, a sauce with adequate body, a filling with stable texture, an aroma with recognizable identity, and a bite that delivers the expected experience.

Comfort food: more than a trend, a product strategy

More than a simple trend, comfort food represents a behavior that supports consumption decisions that go deeper than momentary preferences for certain flavors or recipes. It is associated with the search for pleasure, familiarity, simplicity, convenience, and perceived value.

This context has gained even more relevance in the face of faster routines, higher stress levels, and increased interest in small daily indulgences. For the food industry, this opens a strategic opportunity: developing products capable of combining emotional appeal, sensory quality, and industrial viability.

To position comfort food as a product strategy, it is necessary to guide R&D decisions, select the right ingredients, define tests, control processes, and evaluate product shelf life. It is not only about intensifying flavor or creating a more indulgent formulation. The challenge is to design a coherent, stable, and reproducible sensory experience at scale. When properly executed, this positioning helps differentiate products in competitive categories.

MBRF Ingredients offers solutions for different applications in the food industry, supporting the development of products that combine technical performance and sensory appeal. Discover our portfolio.

Frequently asked questions about comfort food

What defines a comfort food?

What defines comfort food is not a fixed composition, but a combination of familiarity, perceived well-being, and emotional connection. The literature describes these foods as associated with feelings of comfort, reinforcing that consumption is subjective and influenced by individual experiences. In practice, a comfort food is one that the consumer quickly recognizes as comforting, predictable, and pleasurable, both sensorially and emotionally.

Comfort food is always high-calorie food?

No. The literature shows that comfort foods are often calorie-dense and low in nutrients, but this is not a defining requirement of the concept. What defines comfort food is the effect of familiarity and well-being; therefore, more balanced products can deliver the same appeal if they provide the right sensory triggers, such as memorable aroma, coherent texture, warmth, body, and moderate indulgence. The market has increasingly treated health and indulgence as coexisting dimensions.

How to develop products with emotional appeal?

The most recommended approach is to start from the desired emotional effect and translate it into specific sensory attributes. Instead of formulating “an emotional product”, the R&D team must decide whether the goal is to evoke homemade memory, reward, care, comfort, or nostalgia. From there, aroma, mouthfeel, crunchiness, body, consumption temperature, cooking notes, and batch-to-batch consistency are defined.

Which ingredients help create comfort food?

The main groups are those that build experience: fats and proteins for creaminess, body, emulsion, juiciness, and mouthfeel; breading systems for contrast and crunchiness; aromas and extracts for cooking notes, depth, and sensory memory; and ingredients that support stability throughout processing and shelf life.

Is comfort food a trend or an established behavior?

Both, but at different levels. As a behavior, it is established: the concept has existed for decades and is recognized in scientific literature as part of the contemporary food and emotional repertoire. As a market trend, it has seen recent acceleration because it aligns with current demands for comfort, simplicity, tradition, value, and well-being in a context of stress and post-pandemic behavioral shifts.