# Food cravings you got from reading **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [January 7, 2021, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-cravings-you-got-from-reading/929975 "2021-01-07T23:16:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-cravings-you-got-from-reading/929975/1 "2021-01-07T23:16:05Z")
There must have been threads on this before, but I can’t find any. When I read a novel that contains descriptions of foods, I start craving them. It started way before I read Proust and developed the requisite craving for madeleines, which I’d never had. (I have since, and they were…OK.) When I was little and read _The Boxcar Children_, I craved beef stew, brown bread, and blueberries. _Pickwick Papers_ had me craving milk punch. An Agatha Christie character (Miss Oliver?) had me wanting apples. Heck, when I read _Dharma Bums_, I craved canned macaroni and cheese and canned chili, and I can’t stand either. Surely I can’t be alone in this. What books had you drooling discreetly for what foods? ---
**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:** [January 7, 2021, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-cravings-you-got-from-reading/929975/2 "2021-01-07T23:49:27Z")
The **Sten** series by Chris Bunch and Alan Cole. The Eternal Emperor is a great cook, and he shares recipes. Angelo Stew makes my mouth water. [Cookbook.](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12454369-the-sten-cookbook) ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-cravings-you-got-from-reading/929975/3 "2021-01-08T02:30:25Z")
It’s not exactly what you’re asking about but almost any mention of coffee or tea in my reading will make me think “I could use a cup.” ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-cravings-you-got-from-reading/929975/4 "2021-01-08T03:50:51Z")
I read James Michener’s _Chesapeake_ years and years ago, and it got me yearning for crab cakes. I like crab but had never had crab cakes. And now I love them. Whenever I’m back east near DC I have to go to Clyde’s in Georgetown for them! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-cravings-you-got-from-reading/929975/5 "2021-01-08T12:38:58Z")
I’ve read CS threads and ended up cooking dishes being discussed. A Cuban Black Beans recipe (from a @Broomstick thread) is now something I’ve made three or four times. I get ideas from the Dinner thread all the time. Years ago @Guinastasia posted a recipe for a Slovak xmas mushroom soup that I made for a special occasion and it was a huge hit with my Slovak in-laws. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-cravings-you-got-from-reading/929975/6 "2021-01-08T13:02:36Z")
I can’t think of any specific books, but going back to when I was young, any time I read the word “piazza” I would crave pizza. These days, I can have pizza any time I want and so never get deprived enough to “crave” it but I still _think_ of pizza when I read it. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-cravings-you-got-from-reading/929975/7 "2021-01-08T14:01:26Z")
You might not think _Moby Dick_ is a sensual book, but when the narrator eats clam chowder in one of the early chapters, it always makes me want some (even though mine is never quite as good as the book’s; I guess I need to wander frozen seaside streets first). ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-cravings-you-got-from-reading/929975/8 "2021-01-08T14:15:53Z")
Boeuf en daube in Mrs.Dalloway. I don’t even like beef, but the way Woolf describes it makes it seem infinitely desirable. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-cravings-you-got-from-reading/929975/9 "2021-01-08T14:23:32Z")
Roasted potatoes and clotted cream (not at the same time), from reading The Secret Garden. Chocolate, from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. And of course, Turkish Delight, from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. I don’t mean actual Turkish Delight…that stuff’s nasty. But what I imagined it to be when I was a child reading the book. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-cravings-you-got-from-reading/929975/10 "2021-01-08T18:50:27Z")
Not from reading ( that I can recall ) but whenever I see the movie ‘Tampopo’ I’m driven mad with cravings for a fresh bowl of authentic Japanese ramen. ---
**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:** [January 9, 2021, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-cravings-you-got-from-reading/929975/11 "2021-01-09T05:13:10Z")
Nora Ephron was thoughtful enough in _Heartburn_ to actually include the recipes for the dishes described. I still make her Swiss potatoes. > **[Nora Ephron's Swiss Potato Pancake](http://www.bonappetempt.com/2010/12/nora-ephrons-swiss-potato-pancakes.html)** > > As an adult with a shower stall that seems to always needs a scrub, a bag of clothing that's been on its way to Goodwill for weeks, and ... ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-cravings-you-got-from-reading/929975/12 "2021-01-09T08:38:19Z")
If it’s cold, any mention of hot chocolate find me wandering in the kitchen. If it’s hot, mentions of ice tea will do the same. And I have a book about Islay whisky. The reader’s supposed to have a dram while reading. Reading Carolyn Hart’s mysteries make me want to travel to South Carolina to sample the local cuisine.