I'm not talking trackie dacks or moccasins here either (ie. the coronavirus pandemic corporate wardrobe!).

Instead, this weather is all about comfort food.

Having felt the first cold snap of the year at the weekend's Off-Grid Living Festival at Eldorado where I got caught without a jacket, the time is nigh.

Even still, I was better prepared for the weather than my youngest who insists on wearing shorts, year-round.

While she huddled in front of pot belly stoves at exhibitor tents around the festival, I walked the whole site, planning in my mind comfort food dishes for all of the weeks of autumn/winter yet to come.

Soups.

Curries.

Turkish flat breads.

Indian roti.

Cinnamon scrolls.

Bill Granger's Banana Bread (with yoghurt instead of sour cream).

Beef ragu.

Stews.

My friend's daughter calls stews, wet meat!

But not even that unappetizing description can turn me off the healthy one-pot-wonder!!

I always add more spice to food as soon as the weather cools down, warming you up from the inside-out.

My youngest will let me know if I've gone overboard on that front.

"Milk!"

"Water!!"

"NOW!!!" she blurts out as she makes the dash from the dining room table to the fridge.

Then when we need a break from the dishes, we can always turn to takeaway (another option that became a godsend in lockdown last year).

Luckily a new study has now taken the guesswork out of which takeaway food makes us the happiest.

In a bid to reveal which cuisine boosts our serotonin levels most, food ordering app Lieferando did an experiment using the fascinatingly titled, Brief Mood Introspection Scale (BMIS).

The BMIS scale consists of participants rating the intensity of their positive emotions, such as happiness and liveliness, the results are then added together to create a happiness score out of 500.

After studying 2158 people and their emotional reactions to 11 different takeaway meals, Lieferando found that ordering an Indian takeaway was best for your mental health as it was shown to improve overall happiness levels by 83 per cent.

A takeaway curry was found to raise participants' BMIS points from 142 before eating, to 260 thanks to its intoxicating aromas and flavours.

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Interestingly, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) researchers also announced that the vibrant spices in foods like turmeric have been found to boost your mood.

Sushi places in second, with participants reporting a 73 per cent increase in happiness.

Participants reported a significant boost in positive emotions as the pre-takeaway BMIS score increased from 142 to 246 after eating sushi.

In third place, burgers make us 70 per cent happier than we were before, increasing the BMIS score from 142 to 242.

Psychologist Lee Chambers explained that comfort food is not a myth and when we look at the brain chemicals at play, our favourite foods can trigger dopamine release.

Interestingly, fish and chips didn't rate too highly in the happiness stakes as part of the research.

It scored 92 points less than Indian, yet it still has a BMIS score far higher than wearing shorts to Eldorado in 11 degrees.

As we bought steaming hot chocolates on the way out of the festival, my daughter said of her fashion faux pas: "I made a bad choice!"

We live and learn.

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