Comfort Food as a Social Connector
Comfort food has always been more than eating — it’s how people find each other. Jhoonys Burger explores the deeply social side and why it matters in Vancouver.
Eating is Never Just Eating
Can you think about the last time that you had a splendorous meal, not only “impressive”, but a kind off you gonna talk about on your social medias, where u had a good conversation time that didn`t stop because if you leave feel wrong, this is what we call Comfort food, not only a category that always are underestimated. Comfort food is something that humans built like a social structure, is the food in the center of celebrations.
And when we talk about celebration we talk about sharing food, and the Brazilian culture understands that in an intensive way, the burger joint, the X – Burger in the corner of a street in small cities, always are a social structure and a gastronomic point. The people went there not only because they are hungry, they went there because it is where everyone is.
Some foods or foods joints become rituals
Not every food or food joint becomes a ritual, because to become a ritual they need repetition, emotion, and above all of this a shared meaning. Comfort food consists with that, with the smell of something familiar that triggers memory, your body knows what your brain has not processed yet, like a safe moment, a good moment, worth slowing down.
To Brazilians, the X- Burger has that quality, a specific emotional memory that gets activated when the smell of a freshly patty hits you, or when the catupiry cheese melts just in the right way. That feeling is what Jhoonys can build in Vancouver, both by copying the Brazilian food culture, but by carrying its values, the handmade care, the warmth, the feel of belonging.
The moments that actually matter
Comfort food shows up at specific moments, so we can say that shows in the moments that actually matter, the ones you are gonna remember. Having that moments in mind shows how Jhonny’s thinks about food, because the burger isn`t just a product, is something more than that, is a thing that people reach for when something is happening, like these kind of moments:
The after everything – When around 11pm the day ends but you want some real craving, something special, not a snack, you need a meal that feels like it was made for you. Which is hard to find in Vancouver, since most of the restaurants aren`t there for it at this that time.
The celebrations, even small ones – You got a job, you finished the semester, your team won something, you don`t need to waste time with a reservation at a fine restaurant, what you need is a real good food and the right people, where the comfort food is the venue.
When Vancouver gets grey – Since Vancouver is known as one of the most rainiest cities in Canada, on those days, those evenings, where nobody wants to cook but wants to feel a little better, comfort food is what works.
Meetings – Some people need neutral ground, like two friends reconnecting after a long time. Comfort food makes the first strange minute disappear.
Homesickness – For Vancouver Brazilian community, and for everyone who lives somewhere else and misses home, the right flavor can close the distance for you in a ways that nothing else can.
So comfort food is something that don`t distract you, it just sits with you.
Comfort food in Vancouver
Vancouver is a city of people from different parts of the world, and nothing being cliche, but the most important fact about what those people need is food. For a lot of residents, comfort food isn`t something they grew up with here, it is something they grew up with somewhere else and have been missing since they arrived here. The Brazilian community in Vancouver already knows what Jhonnys is offering, they have felt the absence, they have explained the “X-Burgers” to friends and watched their faces when they finally try one, so we can say the gap of knowing something exists and having access to it, is exactly what Jhonny’s closes.
Late night with long conversations
Several important social moments in Vancouver happen late, after the bar, after the show, after being at someone`s place that stretched into midnight. Vancouver city doesn`t have enough good options for those hours, the ones when the conversation is still going and everyone is quietly hungry again. So also for that gap, jhonnys can fill it, with food that tastes like it came from somewhere that cared, not only from a place that keeps the lights on.
