“Food is the most primitive form of comfort”

“Food is the most primitive form of comfort” is a saying that has been printed on many images. Authorship is uncertain.
     
“Food is the most primitive form of comfort. When a baby cries, a parent’s first impulse is to feed the child, yet hunger is not always the cause of an infant’s tears” was printed in The News (Paterson, NJ), written by Marilyn B. Batchelder of the Center for Creative Living.
     
“Food is the most primitive form of comfort” has been credited to British-born, nationally syndicated American gossip columnist Sheilah Graham (1904-1988) since about 1995. However, it is uncertain if/when Graham wrote this.
   
   
Wikipedia: Sheilah Graham
Sheilah Graham (born Lily Shiel; 15 September 1904 – 17 November 1988) was a British-born, nationally syndicated American gossip columnist during Hollywood’s “Golden Age”. In her youth, she had been a showgirl and a freelance writer for Fleet Street in London. These early experiences would converge in her career in Hollywood, which spanned nearly four decades, as a successful columnist and author.
     
Newspapers.com
15 February 1984, The News (Paterson, NJ), “Feeding families” contributes to weight problems,” pg. 17, col. 4:
(Written by Marilyn B. Batchelder of the Center for Creative Living.—ed.)
Food is the most primitive form of comfort. When a baby cries, a parent’s first impulse is to feed the child, yet hunger is not always the cause of an infant’s tears.
       
1 December 1995, Ingram’s for Successful Kansas Citians (Kansas City, MO), “Simple pleasures: Forget Windows 95. In these high-tech, harried times, who wouldn’t appreciate a gift that is simply wonderful?” by Charles Ferruzza, pg. 40:
... but it was the late gossip columnist Sheila Graham who put it more succinctly: “Food is the most primitive form of comfort.”
 
Google Books
Weight Watchers Success Every Day
By Weight Watchers International
New York, NY: Macmillan
1996
Pg. 92:
“Food is the most primitive form of comfort.”
SHEILAH GRAHAM
     
Google Groups: alt.quotations
some that I like
Eigo shaberen!
Aug 26, 1998, 3:00:00 AM
(...)
Sheilah Graham:
“Food is the most primitive form of comfort.”
 
Newspapers.com
3 March 1999, The Journal News (White Plains, NY), pg. 1E, col. 1:
QUOTABLE
“Food is the most primitive form of comfort.”
—Sheila Graham
   
Google Books
Food and Drink:
A Book of Quotations
By Susan L. Rattiner
Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc.
2002
Pg. 42:
Food is the most primitive form of comfort.
SHEILAH GRAHAM
 
Twitter
Sierra Noodle House
@SierraNoodle
“Food is the most primitive form of comfort.”
– Sheila Graham
#food #inspiration
2:15 PM · Aug 18, 2020·Cloud Campaign