In nations that are starving or gripped with rabid famine what do they use for comfort when they don’t have food to use as in the US?

Catching episode of some show I never knew was on TV called ”My 600lb Life” or something like that, surrounding people over 600lb trying to lose weight so they can get weight loss surgery to lose more weight. There seemed to be a theme with some (not all) that they ate themselves to 600lb plus because food made them happy or was a comfort when they were stressed, etc. The show to me seemed to make it seem that is natural for people to do as a reason for their obesity. However, I got to pondering, what do people steeped in poverty and hunger do for their stress and unhappiness when they can comfort themselves with food?