Home is where mom (and food) is. We talk about recipes, smells, and cooking with four mamas and their families. 

Some say “I love you” with words. Mom says it with food. From the sound of coffee grinding in the morning to the heavenly smell of pancakes acting as a weekend alarm clock, there are few things more comforting than mom’s cooking. It’s those soft, thoughtful moments of mom making your favorite meal just right for you that suddenly feels like all is right in the world. And no matter how old you may be or how long you’ve been away, the simple (yet impressively persistent) question of “Have you eaten yet?” still feels like home. 

To celebrate that supportive, soft and intimate comfort that can only be expressed by the one who always seems to keep us happy and full, we sat down with four moms and their little ones (and not so little ones) to talk enchiladas, lemon chicken rice, and all the love (and comfort eats) in between. 

Eberjey: What is distinctly mom at home?

Stella: Staying on top of if we have eaten. That’s the main thing. They take such pride in their food and their love language is food. Food is mom.

Victoria: Definitely cooking because you had eight kids, so…

Becca: Every time I step into the house she’ll be like, “Becca, dinner’s ready!”

Porsche: I think her way of showing or grounding and bringing mom to me is making spaghetti and French toast on Christmas. Vegan. All my favorite things, she learned how to make it vegan for us.

Stella: Mom’s presence at home, grandma too, but especially mom, is food. The smell of food, them asking you, “Have you eaten?” like a hundred times.

Djuna: Whenever she comes and stays with us, she always insists on grinding her own coffee. When she wakes up in the morning it’ll be like 6 A.M. Fox will be sleeping. And then we hear (buzzing) and we’re like, “Oh, my mom’s awake!”

Eberjey: What’s the best meal your mom makes?

Becca: Her lemon chicken with rice.

Jennifer: She also makes good tamales and a soup called pozole.

Becca: You make really good taquitos too. Oh, taquitos are good, yeah. So good, nice and crunchy.

Mary: Honestly, I do not like to cook but because I had so many kids I had to cook.

Elizabeth: And she’s really good at it.

Porsche: What’s your favorite food that I make?

August: Pancakes.

Porsche: Yep, he could eat pancakes every day, so I learned to make them from scratch. And that is one of my joys as a mom.

August: What does scratch mean?

Porsche: Without using a box.

Djuna: She always has enchiladas ready. My second grade teacher gave her this recipe, like a written recipe, for these enchiladas and we’ve been having them ever since. My mom makes like two things.

Stella: One of our traditional Bengali dishes, something you come home to, is dal and bhat which is rice and lentils. It’s the most comforting food to have. It’s everything you need. It’s perfect medicine.


Want to see if you’re a master chef like mom? Don’t worry. We got the recipes.