“Food has always been comfort for me,” says cookbook author and TV host Mary Berg.
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Berg → say → me
“Whether you’ve had a great day, a bad day, life is handing you a bunch of malarkey, food is kind of the one thing, every single day, that you can get right.
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you → have → malarkey
And even if it goes wrong, you can still fix it — or, like, have a chocolate bar.”
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you → go → bar
Comfort has been a consistent theme for Berg — after all, it’s the subject of the lengthiest and longest-living entry in her Notes app.
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it → ’ → app
Her new cookbook, Mary’s Comfort Classics (Appetite by Random House, 2026), made it tangible.
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it → make → House
While the definition of comfort food is far from universal, its soothing presence in our lives is, says Berg.
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Berg → soothe → lives
Mary’s Comfort Classics is her fourth book, and she’s glad she wrote it at this point in her career.
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she → ’s → career
There are plenty of cheesy carbs — and a chapter called “Starch City” — but Berg felt free to widen her definition beyond the North American comfort staples.
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Berg → be → staples
She jokes that she can spin any recipe into a comfort recipe.
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she → joke → recipe
“(If I’d written the book earlier), I think I wouldn’t have had the confidence to attempt to convince readers that a salad can be comforting, and a big old pile of vegetables can be super-stinking comforting.
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pile → write → vegetables
And I’m really happy that that’s where it all landed.
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it → ’m → ?
It feels like it’s the most full version of where I am right now.”
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I → feel → ?
Comfort can mean butter tart croissants, Welsh rarebit — “a.k.a. cheesy toast” — and pickle dip, but it could also signify having to make fewer decisions in a day, Berg highlights.
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Berg → mean → day
“It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’re doing.
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you → matter → what
Life is really hard, and all the things that are supposed to make it easier seem to not make it easier.
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it → suppose → ?
So, I want to be able to eliminate steps.
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I → want → steps
Berg’s culinary career kicked off after winning Season 3 of MasterChef Canada in 2016.
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career → kick → 2016
Even as a student, well before she was developing recipes and became the host of The Good Stuff with Mary Berg and a judge on the show she won a decade ago, Berg says she experienced decision fatigue.
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she → develop → fatigue
“If I had so much on my plate, I would just turn into a deer in headlights and not be able to do anything.
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I → have → anything
And so narrowing things down, streamlining things — and I think I’ve continued to do that with my recipes — has been a real push for me because it makes me so happy when people tell me that they hated cooking, and my recipes make them like cooking again.”
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them → narrow → cooking
She had fun creating recipes for the book — “make it tonight-able but not boring or basic.”
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it → have → book
Streamlined is her goal, but engaging is part of the process.
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engaging → streamline → process
“It will ask you to put in effort because I am a big tryer, and I think trying is awesome.
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trying → ask → effort
But it’s not going to make you hate me at the end of it,” says Berg, laughing.
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Berg → go → it
Through her cookbooks and shows, Berg hopes to be a support system.
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Berg → hop → cookbooks
“I want to be the Alfred to your Batman.
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I → want → Batman
I just want to be there to help you do your thing,” she says.
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she → want → thing
“It would be amazing if everybody cooked all of the things that I develop.
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I → cook → that
But I want you to feel like you can do it.
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you → want → it
Truly, the main realistic goal is that after you read the recipe, after you see me make a recipe, you feel in yourself, ‘I could do that.’
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I → read → that
Because that feels good.
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that → feel → ?
about 2 cups
For the dip:
1/2 cup grated dill pickles
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 lemon, zested and juiced
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp chopped fresh dill
2 tbsp chopped fresh chives
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
For serving:
4 Greek pitas
Canola oil
Kosher salt
Step 1
Place the grated pickles in a sieve lined with paper towel and set over the sink to drain.
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tsp → grate → sink
When the oil is hot and bubbles form around a wooden spoon when submerged in the oil, add the pitas in batches and fry until golden on both sides, flipping once.
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bubbles → form → sides
Transfer the fried pitas to a sheet pan lined with a rack and continue frying until all are crisp and golden brown.
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all → transfer → rack
Allow the pitas to cool slightly, then serve with the dip.
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pitas → allow → dip
If you like, you can garnish the dip with dill, pepper and a pickle.
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you → like → dill
Once all the chicken has been coated, scatter any remaining crumbs overtop.
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chicken → coat → crumbs
Step 6
Bake the chicken for 15 to 18 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp and the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165F (74C).
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temperature → bake → 165F
Allow the chicken to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
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chicken → allow → minutes
The mixture will be quite thin but that’s OK — this addition of boiling water makes for an incredibly moist and level cake.
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addition → ’ → cake
…and 4 more, not listed.
The Aporia
