Feeling better food

I think it's neat that everyone's mom makes them special things for when they're sick. But does everyone's mom make the same thing? My mom and my mother in law both make people noodles with a little sprinkle cheese. That's for the I'm-feeling-some-better-but-I'm-not-sure-what-would-be-good-for-dinner dinner. Is this universal?

Here are ones I can think of:

• Mint tea for almost everything, but especially tummy upsets.
• Flat coke for nausea.
• Ginger ale for nausea.
• Noodles with sprinkle cheese.
• A hardboiled egg, mashed with a fork, with a little toast.

My mom has been known to make ginger tea out of fresh ginger peels. It's strong and bitey, but tasty and soothing. My family makes tea as a kind of panacea, actually. Mint tea especially. You have an upset stomach? Mint tea. Sore throat? Mint tea. Sinus infection? Severed limb? Plague? Mint tea.

Emotional problems get mint tea, too. I guess it's less what's being given and more that it's your mom who's giving it. I wonder what my daughter will grow up thinking is feel better food?