Comfort Food Vessels from Southern Artisans

Containing Comfort

There’s a reason January is often called the longest month. It’s typically 31 days of blistery weather, grey-skied days, and the darkest nights. However, it’s my favorite month, because January is also prime time for warming layers, resetting intentions, and comfort food. This is the time to be whipping up stews, ladling piping-hot noodles, and pulling sweet starches from the oven. Here, we’ve tapped some of our favorite Southern artisans who are producing the vessels needed for all of your cozy meals and winter comfort foods to carry you through to spring.

Ripple Large Pasta Bowl | Haand

This low-slung porcelain bowl is made for pasta and soup—think meaty bolognese or a hearty chicken stew for comforting weeknight meals. Produced in Burlington, North Carolina, Haand porcelain tableware is the product of longtime friends Mark Warren and Chris Pence who chose the unusual name “Haand” for their equally unusual pottery company. They believe in making everything by hand in this 21st-century world and aim to bridge the past and present, the strange and the familiar, through their one-of-a-kind pieces.

Price: $37 | haand.us

Modern Ceramic Ramen Bowl Set | Casafina

This ramen set is designed to hold your noodles and steaming broth for a cozy meal, complete with slurping supplies. Order this gift set from Casafina for the ramen lover in your life—it includes stoneware bowl, spoon, chopstick holder, and wooden chopsticks. Or get one for yourself and try Sarah Gavigan’s Shoyu Ramen recipe the right way.

Price: $49 | casafinagifts.com

Walnut Dough Bowl | Bear Creek Dough Bowls

Back in the day, dough bowls were used for making biscuits in the South. Nowadays, the rustic wood element and vintage feel make them popular home decor pieces. I have one on my kitchen counter and it’s currently stacked with artichokes. They also make great vessels for tossing bountiful winter salads, or you can take the bowl back to its roots and use it to knead your dough for the ultimate Southern comfort food: biscuits and gravy. Order a custom one from Bear Creek dough bowls where artist and retired logger Tim Nester hand carves each piece from your chosen wood in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia

Price: $185 | bearcreekdoughbowls.com

Mixte Bowl Set | Sarah Cihat

Ceramicist Sarah Cihat handcasts porcelain pieces inspired by the warmth and feel of her materials inside her Nashville studio. Fun meets fortified in these textured grey porcelain bowls rimmed with real copper. They’re sold solo or in a set of four for everyday use. I recently snagged a set with the intention of filling them with fruit, but so far, they’ve come in handy for movie night sweets and cereal snacking (my personal comfort food).

Price: $70 each or $244 for set of 4 | sarahcihat.com

1.5 Rigwa Bowl | RIGWA Life

Meet the ultimate adult lunchbox. Rigwa bowls are our go-to for food storage and travel containers. The stainless steel bowls holds 1.5 quarts and will keep your soup hot for four hours and your acai bowl cold for up to eight hours. Born out of a family’s need to keep queso hot longer, the Jordan family founded this company in Charleston in 2018 and have been welcoming new converts to the Rigwa Life ever since.

Price: $39.95 | Shop RIGWA on the Local Palate marketplace

7-Piece Nesting Bowl Set | Bamboozle 

Comfort food isn’t all starches and stews. For some, indulging the sweet tooth is the trick to making it through the darkest season. Pull out this smartly designed set of bamboo mixing bowls to bake up a batch of cookies. Based in Archdale, North Carolina, Bamboozle’s successful strategy to sustainability is baked into its name and its product.

Price: $70 | bamboozlehome.com