Ellington

How to: Pozole soup

[b]Ingredients:[/b]

3 lbs. pork roast

1 lb canned whole tomatoes

2 lbs canned hominy, drained

2 medium. onions, chopped

Salt to taste

6 dried red chilies

Fresh vegetables (lettuce, thinly sliced green onion, chopped avocado)

Cubes of cheese

[b]Directions:[/b]

Cook pork in 2 quarts of water, with red chilis, onions, tomatoes and salt until meat falls apart.

Add hominy and continue simmering for 1 hour. Salt to taste.

Serve with fresh vegetables and cheese added to individual servings.

Those who prefer hotter seasonings may want to add hot sauce or more chilies.

With the recent near record setting string of rainy weather and the end of winter break, there's not much to look forward to but another quarter of early mornings, grueling homework and gray skies.

People cope with this in different ways. Some exercise a lot. Some look forward to sunny spring break trips. Others turn to religion.

I eat.

And I'm not alone -- in many cultures, there are foods that people turn to in times of need, aptly called comfort foods. For me, it's always been things like macaroni and cheese, pudding and pizza. For my sister, it's tuna noodle casserole, although why she (or anyone) would eat this '50's-era monstrosity is beyond me.

In the stratosphere of cuisine, comfort food sits in the higher echelons along with four-star restaurants, though the two are completely different. Fine foods deliver aesthetically, and when carefully savored are delightful. But comfort foods are the type to be eaten straight out of the box with no careful presentation. Their simple yet gastronomically-consoling flavors are sufficient.

The UW is home to a culturally and ethnically diverse student body, and in turn, a diverse definition of comfort food. With students from different continents and all parts of the country, there are sure to be lots of homesick hearts and hungry stomachs.

The U-District is full of Indian restaurants, luring in hungry students with smells of curry and fresh naan. Though these dishes define Indian food for most people, it is desserts that define Indian comfort food, says junior Seema Mody.

Two popular sweet dishes are gulab jaman, a ball of dough dipped in sweet syrup, and ladoo, a sweet flour ball with a butter coating.

"Most desserts are full of sugar and make every Indian's mouth water," says Mody.

Derek Xu, president of the Chinese Student Association, says that for Chinese, "If people have a sweet tooth, there are a lot of sweet dishes, but it's really anything that fills the stomach."

Xu says that most Chinese students at the UW come from the south, where cuisine includes dishes such as honey walnut prawns, chow mein and chow fun. He says these dishes show up a lot in Chinese restaurants on the Ave. and in Chinatown.

If you want to be really specific about your Chinese comfort food, Xu recommends heading north to Vancouver, B.C., where there are more specialty restaurants.

"If you're picky, they have places that serve only buns and dumplings, Shanghai food or good dim sum," he says.

Though Latin America comprises many different cultures and countries, Lily Lopez, co-founder of the Latino Student Union, says its cuisine has some common ingredients.

"You'll find in most Latino foods there tends to be a lot of garlic, onion, cilantro and tomatoes. A lot of foods are fried, but grilled foods are always a favorite," she says.

In Mexico, it could be pozole, a stew of hominy, chiles, spices and barbecued meat; pupusas -- a thicker relative of the tortilla, served with beans and cheese -- in El Salvador; or churrasco -- barbecued steak marinated in a garlicky, citrusy sauce in Argentina.

"Wintertime is the season that usually makes people long for the comfort foods we know so well," says Lopez. For her, the season is characterized by a busy kitchen full of relatives. Regardless of personal memories, that sentiment defines the appeal of comfort foods: they are a nostalgic taste of home and family in otherwise dour times.