I’m at work, and I just decided to have a coffee and a sandwich. Normally, I don’t drink coffee with my sandwiches, unless it is a “breakfast sandwich”, usually by lunch I am drinking water or juice or pop. The combination made me think about how in the Steig Larsson books (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, etc) it seemed ever meeting, every “discuss what’s going on” session, there was always coffee and sandwiches.
Other books too seem to have a focus on food. Granted, everyone needs to eat, but some books focus on it more. The Enid Blighton “Famous Five” novels always had the kids provisioning themselves with hams, and apples, loaves of bread, biscuits etc for their various adventures. I remember lots of talk about food in other children’s books like The Little House Books, and the Anne of Green Gables series, but am less likely to think of adult fiction that talks about eating as much.
What are other poster’s favourite examples of books that describe food so often you practically go on a cupboard rummage yourself?
Still in the realm of children’s literature, the Redwall books really, really, really love to talk about all the food at feasts, or in adventuring beasts’ provisions, or that they’re in the process of catching, harvesting, or cooking, or even simply have in reserve for when they decide to eat.
(Especially cheese. So much cheese. Cheese so prominent he had to patch the ‘there’s no cows, so where does the cheese come from’ thing with an explanation.)
I think every one of the “Song of Ice and Fire” books by George R R Martin could have been a couple hundred pages shorter without all the detailed descriptions of various feasts and meals.
Steven Brust’s Vlad Taltos novels usually spend a lot of time on food. One of the later ones, Dzur, is framed by an exquisite feast: one course described in loving, succulent detail at the beginning of each chapter.
Clan of the Cave Bear and the rest of the series talked a lot about food. The use of the term “wild carrot” I remember brought me right out of the book, because before agriculture, everything was “wild”.
I’m re-reading Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin sea series and he spends a great deal of time detail the sometimes delicious-sounding, sometimes appalling things they eat and the inordinate amount they drink.
My Life In France, written by Julia Child’s nephew after hearing her relate her life history, describes a lot of French food, cooking, and cookbook writing, naturally.
Hunger Games describes the wonderful food that the hungry Katniss and Peeta had access to once they were chosen and got to the capitol.
This is the first thing that came to my mind as well (in no small part because I’m re-reading them right now).
There’s even a sort of cookbook. (I say “sort of” because it’s about 50% cookbook and 50% “Here are some stories about us trying to recreate this dish.”)
The Discworld books often make mention of food in various forms. The mystery contents of Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler’s sausage-in-a-bun come up in a few of the books. In The Fifth Elephant Commander Vimes complains about a sausage he’s eating while visiting Überwald because it’s pink all the way through. His servant Igor explains that this is because it is illegal in Überwald to use anything but meat in sausage but he could have the chef throw some sawdust into the grinder if he misses the meat of Ankh-Morpork his home town.
Incredibly well written and engaging. The protagonist is writing a travelogue / cookbook, so food is central and recipes are shared. But…as you read it, you start to realize that all is not what it seems. Is the narrator up to something? A bit of no good with some of the other characters?
Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe mysteries were very food focused. My Mom was a huge fan, and she was inspired to make several dishes from The Nero Wolfe Cookbook.
How could I forget? The Belly of Paris, by Emile Zola. It’s about a political exile who has come back to France and is in hiding with his relatives who work in the food markets at Les Halles in Paris. The food in the shops and booths is described in great detail and will certainly make you hungry as you read. It’s a great book, too. I’m going to have to pick up some other works by Zola.
