Comfort: a feeling of relief or encouragement, contented well-being, a satisfying or enjoyable experience. This is the perfect description of how a good comfort food meal should make you feel. It settles you down, fills you up, and reassures you that in a crazy, hectic, stressful world of everyday troubles, you can find moments of total peace and pleasure.

Good comfort food shares a few key characteristics that make it special. It’s a traditional meal prepared in a traditional style. It’s often high in carbs — the sugars, starches, and fibers in food that give us a good mood boost (which is why we often crave them). There’s a nostalgic or sentimental appeal about comfort food too, perhaps reminding you of a simpler time when you were young and had no cares in the world. And it’s typically flavorful, easy to make, and easy to eat, which makes it a perfect meal when you need a little encouragement without putting a lot of energy into cooking.

Of course, one of the best ways to indulge in comfort food is to have someone else cook it for you. After all, isn’t it a relaxing, nourishing treat to have someone care for you and feed you? And if that’s what you’re craving — a little pampering as well as a tasty, happy meal — then Green Country has you covered, because this area of the state is renowned for its comfort food offerings.

Yes, you can indulge in any comfort food you want in Green Country. We’ve compiled our list of favorites to get you started. Chow down at these spots, and enjoy some of the best meatloaf, mashed potatoes, chicken-fried steak, homemade biscuits, lasagna, macaroni and cheese, and other nostalgic, hearty meals that send your mood soaring and satisfy your belly in the cold winter months.

It’s officially winter … even if Green Country’s weather doesn’t always cooperate. It may be cold, snowy or icy as you read this, or it might be in the 60s. But no matter the actual weather, winter is the perfect time to warm your soul and if need be, your body, with a bowl of steaming hot, tasty goodness offered up in the area’s many local restaurants.

What’s truly neat about ordering a bowl of food is that in one smooth, round, delightfully compact container, you can potentially enjoy all sorts of cuisines and all kinds of meals. Imagine light broths and home-brewed soups, like pho and miso, for those times you want just a snack or light meal before or after a party. Picture a hearty bowl of chili or chowder on days when you need something that sticks to your ribs. Ponder the delights of rice bowls, ramen noodles, egg scrambles, oatmeal on steroids.

Imagine it all — and then rejoice, because the 918 offers it all. Whatever your favorite meal in a bowl, you can find plenty of options to warm you up from the inside out.

With your taste buds in mind, we’ve gathered a list of the best bowl meals you can find around Tulsa and the surrounding towns including soups, stews, bisques, chilis, pho and more. We’ve found it and categorized it so you can just head to one of these restaurants anytime and dig in.

There’s really no better reminder that we’re all primarily a bunch of immigrants than when you visit a restaurant that is out of this world. Or should we say, out of this country. Since the early 1900s, we’ve had bright-eyed dreamers arriving here from all over, introducing this part of the state to new eats and treats.

And our restaurants are still doing that. Green Country’s global eats are surprisingly diverse and delicious too. Every culture brings unique ingredients and traditions to the meals they serve and savor. And we enjoy the benefit of tasting, eating and loving every minute of it.

At a time when cultural diversity seems to divide many, there’s something that brings us all together: food. Our food scene is rich with flavors representing a variety of experiences and nationalities, allowing individuals with eclectic palates to sample their way around the world, one thrilling bite at a time.

Clearly, a whole country’s worth of cuisine can’t be boiled down to a single dish, any more than we can cover a world’s worth of food in the pages of one magazine.

So, how did we narrow our list? After all, so many cooking styles and practices have made their way to America from other nations that, we had to keep the list practical. We opted to leave out the usual suspects — the Americanized global eats you’re likely to find at Italian, Asian, and Mexican restaurants in the area.

Instead, we’re focusing on some of the less well-known cuisines, as well as some restaurants we know work hard to provide an authentic, less Americanized version of their cuisine. Honestly, there are so many terrific globally-inspired restaurants here, we hated leaving any of them out. But here are some of the most interesting and top-notch restaurants providing Tulsa with its own unique taste of the world.

March Madness is here, and you want to watch the games, right? Well, you’re in luck because the 918 has no shortage of ways to watch all the dunks, dimes, game winners and heartbreaking losses. So put on your dancing shoes and let the madness begin.

While there are some who prefer to watch the games in the comfort of their own homes, the general consensus is that the best place to watch the action is inside a sports bar or restaurant.

And of course, once the madness is over, it’ll be time to get down to business with baseball. NFL action might be over for now, but preseason games will be back before you know it. Throw hockey, golf, MMA, UFC, horse racing and basketball in the mix and you have yearlong reasons to know where to enjoy the best food, drinks and sportsbroadcasts.

And it just so happens that we love putting together lists of our favorite go-to places. So, while you’ve been contemplating your Elite Eight and Final Four picks, we’ve been compiling our own 38 selections.

All you have to do is skim through our list and choose where you want to meet your favorite guys and gals. Not to mention, you’ll also have plenty of shoulders to cry on when your bracket gets destroyed after a few upsets.