ational favorites such as meatloaf and macaroni and cheese aside, how you choose your comfort foods has a lot to do with where you grew up.

“I think depending on where you're from regionally your comfort food might be different,” says Melanie Underwood, an instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) in New York. Underwood grew up near Middleburg, Virginia, and now teaches several courses on Southern cooking. Upcoming classes such as comfort desserts and Southern comfort foods have menus that include puddings, doughnuts, meatloaf, fried chicken and, yes, boiled peanuts.

Underwood, who is not a particular fan of that Southern dish, says in her family, puddings were always a favorite: “When I need something comforting I always eat tapioca pudding.”

About 60 percent of her students are women, “I definitely think woman have more of an association with comfort foods than men” She says many of her students tell her that they take her courses because she chooses foods that their mothers used to make and now they want to learn how as well.

Although we might not see boiled peanuts gracing the tables of New York’s cocktail parties, some favorites follow us everywhere. Underwood, who worked in hotels and restaurants before coming to the ICE, says that more than once she has cooked a special order of macaroni and cheese for patrons at the Four Seasons. Proof that life in the lap of luxury is no substitute for simple, homemade goodness.