It’s March Break for us here in Ottawa and (of course) a cold has been making its way through my family, taking down one person at a time.

It’s times like this that I realize that cold remedies are essentially a product of our childhood and our culture. When a cold hits, we flock to things that bring us comfort, regardless whether they’re a medically-proven remedy or not.

I’m the first generation child of eastern European parents, and when a cold rears its ugly head it’s all about ingesting as much garlic as possible. And when we’re not eating garlic we need to be drinking tea with honey and lemon. As much as we can possibly stomach.

When I was pregnant I got tired of the tea and switched to “faux” Neo Citrons when I had a cold; hot water with lots of honey and lemon. Ahhh. I still love it.

The husband, who wears several generations of Canadian genes with a fraction of British heritage thrown in for good measure, craves nothing but canned chicken noodle soup (I can’t stand the stuff) and warm blankets.

Neither is wrong, but it certainly is interesting.

Who knows what food will comfort our children when they become germ-infested adults. Maybe it’ll be a combination of the two.

What about you? Do you feed a cold or starve it? What’s your favourite cold remedy?