Food in Fiction

 

 Books

“No, no, no,” my university reader said. “You don’t want food in the novel.” I was a Ph.D. candidate in creative writing. He and I agreed on little. 

I had written about lentils spilling on the floor. The lentils told me something about my characters: they were almost vegetarian and concerned about nutrition. I never had to say that directly but showed it by food choices.

The New Yorker in its 6 September issue had an article on food in writing including the use of recipes. We’re not talking cookbooks, but fiction. 

I’m tempted to see if the reader is still at the University of Lancaster and send him the article. I have no regrets at not finishing the degree and should direct him to my website where I’ve published many novels. He had expressed doubts I’d ever be published, especially when I included details like food. It was. Family Value.

In writing, lot of details help define a character: appearance, work, action, habits. Actions include food: buying, cooking and eating. He would hate my Murder in Schwyz that is centered in s cookie factory. Each chapter has a cookie recipe to start.

I know if I write about a family that never eats together and one where eating together is a rule, it says something about those families. Of course it can be overdone. Just as if we described every piece of furniture in a crowded room would be boring, so would too much detail about food. 

TV/Movies

I noticed in Stephen Spielberg films centered around middle class families, he almost always shows them eating meals together. 

The TV show Brothers and Sisters had many family meals. Sally Field spent so much time in the kitchen it was reported that during one shoot she made real guacamole. 

How many New York-based movies have people buying a hot dog at a stand?

One of the sexiest scenes in the movies was a man and a woman eating a lobster in the 1969 film Tom Jones. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tezjznL9NzM&t=30s -- see photo above.

Downtown Abbey was full of family and servant meals.

Part of me wonders in eating scenes in films how many takes? How full were the actors after many takes? Did they learn to take tiny bites? Did the crew get fed? How did the caterer decide how much food to make? That could be a documentary.

If I were to write about food in painting, I'd have a coffee table book, a big coffee table book.

I do know when I'm hungry reading about food in a book or seeing it on a screen, big or little, just makes me hungrier.