Jesse and Jill recall one December day during their freshman year in college when they were discussing winter food traditions that were observed by their respective families. After holiday feasts, something simple and comforting was served on a cold winter evening for supper. The comfort food of choice for both families was meat loaf. Each family had a family secret recipe.

What made meat loaf a comfort food for Jesse was memories of all of his family members gathering around the dining room table for the meal. During the winter break, his older brother, his older sister, his younger brother, and his parents all shared supper together when Jesse was in high school. By then, his older brother had finished college and his older sister was a senior at a university. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, a warm family meal certainly qualified whatever was being served as comfort food.

Jill's family lived in Boston, Massachusetts. During the winter months, meat loaf was a family staple supper dish. This defined it as a comfort food in her family, and family recipe for meat loaf had crossed four generations. To this day, her aunt enters a meat loaf cook-off every spring. One year, she placed second, but has never revealed the family secret recipe for this comfort food.

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