# Fictional Food, and You **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 21, 2010, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-food-and-you/533190 "2010-03-21T01:44:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-food-and-you/533190/1 "2010-03-21T01:44:15Z")
Have you ever had a fictional food…one you’ve read about/seen in a movie/seen in an artwork/heard in a song…actually impact your life in any way, however minor? This afternoon, while I was adding honey and pepper to my carrots and butter, I remembered how I developed a fondness for pepper and honey in the first place. A long time ago…I was around 10, I think…I was reading some book where a white man described kissing a black woman as tasting of “honey and pepper”. So the next time I made popcorn, I added honey and pepper to the melting butter, and holy cow yum! Now I use the combination on all kinds of things, and love it. Maybe it was just that we had plain but hearty fare growing up; I wasn’t exposed to much spicy food, much the less sweet+ spicy. So, have you ever run across a fictional food that made you change how you viewed it? Besides chianti and fava beans… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-food-and-you/533190/2 "2010-03-21T01:53:34Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > I was reading some book where a white man described kissing a black woman as tasting of “honey and pepper” Didn’t you know? That’s how all black women taste. :rolleyes: > [@Taomist](#): > > Have you ever had a fictional food…one you’ve read about/seen in a movie/seen in an artwork/heard in a song…actually impact your life in any way, however minor? Fictional food? You mean food that’s mentioned in fiction? Because honey and pepper both exist in the real world. 😛 I’m not sure if this counts, but when I was a little tyke I remember refusing to drink milk one night because I’d seen _The Simpsons_ episode where Springfield Elementary has its milk supplied by rats. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-food-and-you/533190/3 "2010-03-21T02:04:26Z")
I’ve made all of [these](http://www.acole.com/novels/sten/recipe.html). Great food from a pretty good sci-fi series. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-food-and-you/533190/4 "2010-03-21T02:10:40Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Didn’t you know? That’s how all black women taste. :rolleyes: > > Fictional food? You mean food that’s mentioned in fiction? Because honey and pepper both exist in the real world. 😛 I’m not sure if this counts, but when I was a little tyke I remember refusing to drink milk one night because I’d seen _The Simpsons_ episode where Springfield Elementary has its milk supplied by rats. 😃 Yep, that’s the kind of thing I mean; I did word it poorly, huh…:smack: I remember spending weeks coming up with the recipe for a Pangalactic Gargleblaster. All I recall is that it ended up very, very green… ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-food-and-you/533190/5 "2010-03-21T02:12:05Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I’ve made all of [these](http://www.acole.com/novels/sten/recipe.html). > > Great food from a pretty good sci-fi series. Wow! Ok, that is dang cool! I can’t tell what series that is from, though. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-food-and-you/533190/6 "2010-03-21T02:14:49Z")
I read about lasagna in a cheap romance novel long before I ever tasted it. I was prepared to love it even though all I knew about it was that it contained noodles. I was inspired to try a gin and tonic after I read the Hitchhiker series. That wasn’t as successful an experiment. Fairy Cake, from the same source, was much yummier. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-food-and-you/533190/7 "2010-03-21T02:20:11Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > I remember spending weeks coming up with the recipe for a Pangalactic Gargleblaster. All I recall is that it ended up very, very green… [Here you go.](http://www.galactic-guide.com/articles/1S1.html) [ol] [li]1 oz. Everclear[/li][li]4 oz. Bombay Sapphire[/li][li]4 oz. Cold Wild Turkey[/li][li]2 oz. Herredura Tequila [/li][li]1 [Mezcal worm](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezcal)[/li][li]2 oz. Gatorade[/li][/ol] ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-food-and-you/533190/8 "2010-03-21T02:53:27Z")
Well, I was always sad as a kid that I couldn’t have manna, which I envisioned as fluffy white Sugar Pops drifting down from the sky. I was afraid to taste collard greens until I was an adult because of a Beverly Hillbillies episode where the smell of Granny’s collards cooking was practically taking out the whole neighborhood. I was shocked to find out they didn’t smell bad at all. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-food-and-you/533190/9 "2010-03-21T03:17:41Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > Wow! Ok, that is dang cool! I can’t tell what series that is from, though. 😛 [The Sten Series](http://www.acole.com/novels/sten/sten.html). Pretty good books. Actually one big novel, broken up into 7 books. 😃 (Just in case someone thinks you were serious.) Angelo Stew is clotting AWESOME! ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-food-and-you/533190/10 "2010-03-21T03:28:47Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > [The Sten Series](http://www.acole.com/novels/sten/sten.html). > > Pretty good books. Actually one big novel, broken up into 7 books. 😃 (Just in case someone thinks you were serious.) > > Angelo Stew is clotting AWESOME! I was serious, since you said it was from a sci-fi series; I didn’t even consider a book series, for some reason. 😛 Will have to check that out…and the recipes, too. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-food-and-you/533190/11 "2010-03-21T03:53:54Z")
I have a copy of the Nero Wolfe Cookbook, and I have tried some of the recipes. I wouldn’t say that any of them have changed my life, except possibly by introducing me to something resembling “gourmet” cooking. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-food-and-you/533190/12 "2010-03-21T04:53:07Z")
I also have a copy of the Nero Wolfe Cookbook. Some of the recipes are pretty good, but I can’t say that I’ve made more than a small fraction of the entries. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-food-and-you/533190/13 "2010-03-21T04:59:51Z")
My wife recently made a cake from a recipe that her mom got out of a novel. It was preposterous. It had candy bars and such in it. Two or 3 bites were AWESOME and then it was just so sweet and rich that I couldn’t take any more. I’ll ask her tomorrow what it was called. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-food-and-you/533190/14 "2010-03-21T05:10:48Z")
I bought some bottles of Romulan Ale at the Star Trek Experience in Vegas. Not for me, but for my brother and his friend. One of them (I forget which) opened and drank the bottle I gave him, and he said it gave him the shits. The other one decided to leave his unopened 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Woodhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Miss\_Woodhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Woodhouse)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-food-and-you/533190/15 "2010-03-21T05:26:04Z")
Cisco, that sounds like a “better than sex cake.” The name is quite infamous and covers several different versions of a spruced up a box cake recipe. They are pretty good, but I do still feel sorry for the person who originally came up with the name. I wonder if the recipe your MIL got came from one of those mystery books with recipes. I’ve tried a few and find them almost universally disappointing. I may be reading the wrong mystery books, however. To stay on topic, I haven’t really had my life impacted from food appearing in fiction. I’ve tried a few things here and there, but nothing has really stuck or been all that memorable. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-food-and-you/533190/16 "2010-03-21T05:41:06Z")
> [@Miss\_Woodhouse](#): > > Cisco, that sounds like a “better than sex cake.” The name is quite infamous and covers several different versions of a spruced up a box cake recipe. They are pretty good, but I do still feel sorry for the person who originally came up with the name. That _might_ be it, but I actually don’t think so. I’ve heard of a “better than sex cake” and I think this one was called something else. > [@Miss\_Woodhouse](#): > > I wonder if the recipe your MIL got came from one of those mystery books with recipes. I’ve tried a few and find them almost universally disappointing. I may be reading the wrong mystery books, however. I don’t know what a mystery book with recipes is (is this a genre?) but it sounds exactly like something she’d read, so you’re almost certainly correct. Like I said . . . this thing was heaven for a couple bites, but then just overwhelming. I’d have to say, on the whole, it was a loser. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-food-and-you/533190/17 "2010-03-21T05:47:30Z")
I think I’m one of many, many people who was greatly disappointed by Turkish Delight. It sounded so amazing in _The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe_, too! I can report, however, that I have now had freshly-made Turkish Delight (lokum) in Turkey, and it was surprisingly delicious. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-food-and-you/533190/18 "2010-03-21T05:48:45Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > That _might_ be it, but I actually don’t think so. I’ve heard of a “better than sex cake” and I think this one was called something else. > > I don’t know what a mystery book with recipes is (is this a genre?) but it sounds exactly like something she’d read, so you’re almost certainly correct. > > Like I said . . . this thing was heaven for a couple bites, but then just overwhelming. I’d have to say, on the whole, it was a loser. The first thing I thought of when I saw “mystery book with recipes” is [Diane Mott Davidson](http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/d/diane-mott-davidson/), who writes books about a caterer who solves mysteries and includes recipes for most of the dishes mentioned in it. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-food-and-you/533190/19 "2010-03-21T07:03:23Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > Have you ever had a fictional food…one you’ve read about/seen in a movie/seen in an artwork/heard in a song…actually impact your life in any way, however minor? > > This afternoon, while I was adding honey and pepper to my carrots and butter, I remembered how I developed a fondness for pepper and honey in the first place. > > A long time ago…I was around 10, I think…I was reading some book where a white man described kissing a black woman as tasting of “honey and pepper”. So the next time I made popcorn, I added honey and pepper to the melting butter, and holy cow yum! > > Now I use the combination on all kinds of things, and love it. Maybe it was just that we had plain but hearty fare growing up; I wasn’t exposed to much spicy food, much the less sweet+ spicy. > So, have you ever run across a fictional food that made you change how you viewed it? > > Besides chianti and fava beans… 😛 Honey and pepper was a roman combination [there is a custardy omelet sort of dish that is eggs cooked in olive oil and flavored with honey and pepper. I think it is in the patina class. I don’t have access to my Flowers De Re Coquinaria right now, I am posting in bed as I got attacked with a bit of insomnia right now.] To be honest, i love food descriptions, and occasionally I have actually gotten to eat or drink something and the ‘classic’ recipe for it just does not live up to expectations. I would say an example of this is alcoholic drinks. I like sweet/tart and fruity drinks, and something like a singapore sling or mai tai sounds great, but almost inevitably fails. It is generally made with cheap sour mix, and is cloyingly sweet, or puckeringly sour, and artificially marascinoey [if this makes sense] I think what I need to do is sit there and experiment with fruit juices and sugar and booze and make my perfect drink. Tall, the perfect blend of sweet and tart, from actual fruit juices and not chemical blends … and I think rum will be the booze in it. I like rum, a nice flavorful black rum. ---
**Author:** ![AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-food-and-you/533190/20 "2010-03-21T08:46:18Z")
> [@](#): > > I think I’m one of many, many people who was greatly disappointed by Turkish Delight. It sounded so amazing in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, too! But it makes a good candy bar! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-food-and-you/533190.md?page=2)