comfort and food

Is comfort food and food for comfort the same thing? When we talk about comfort food people will often refer to "some deep south soul food" or mom's homemade spaghetti and meatballs, or dad's pancakes on saturday morning. Usually comfort food has a connection to something special but occasionally comfort food can simply be something enjoyable like ice cream or a doughnut. Watching others and experiencing myself, people are most likely to revert back to their comfort food when they are looking to replace a painful, troubling, or annoying event with something more pleasant.
Food given to comfort people is usually grouped differently than typical comfort food but is there really a difference? No matter the answer these both demonstrate how much our culture revolves around food. It is obviously essential that we consume food in order to survive but by finding comfort in food seems to push us from literal survival to mental and emotional survival as well. Sharing a meal with another person typically shows caring from one to another whether the meal is eaten together or not. Sharing, even if not at the same time, is what keeps some people moving from moment to moment. This sharing is what I belive turns food that is given to comfort others into comfort food.
The biggest challenge that I find with all of this food and the comfort that is associated with it is for people who live their lives around food. I understand that as humans who eat food we live around food, but I mean in the extreme sense such as a caterer who's professional as well as personal life is incorporated with food. To find a way to comfort a person who is in desperate need of comfort but may not want to face the food that is associated with her grieving is difficult. As a society that is so immersed in food that is meant to comfort, how can we "be at a loss for words" or food when someone is in a dire need for some edible comfort but is in denial of the situation?