Food in Literature

[Fake Name]

I'm on a committee that produces an annual fundraiser for literacy. It includes excellent food paired with wine and beer. I can't give more details yet, but you'll be the first to know about this San Diego event for dining, eating and food shopping.

Stay tuned.

But this year we're going to pair the foods closely with foods that play a role in books. Not just cookbooks, but literary works- think marlin in Old Man and The Sea or for kids, Green Eggs and Ham.

What are your literary/culinary favorites?

[mamachef]

In kids/teens lit: Any of the Little House Books by Laura Ingalls Wilder - esp. Farmer Boy
Fried Green Tomatoes
Like Water For Chocolate
Crescent
Anna Karenina
A Christmas Carol - Cratchet's dinner scene, menu
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood/Little Altars Everywhere
The Egg and I
Onions in the Stew
Anything by Gerrald Durrel
Under the Tuscan Sun
A Year in Provence
Trail of Crumbs
Stealing Buddha's Dinner

[Passadumkeg]

I'm not sure if this qualifies, but I'm on a John McPhee kick. In an older work, A Room Full of Hovings, there is an story about his trip down the Sussquahanna, w/ Euell Gibbons, foraging for a week, in November. A more recent work, The Founding Fish, is entirely about shad and the appendix is just recipes. He credits the shad run to saving GW's army at Valley Forge.

[mjs]

Mock turtle soup from Alice in Wonderland.

[SherBel]

Corn (corn bread, corn 'pone') in "The Yearling", author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings.

[LorenM]

Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Read.

[Passadumkeg]

I'll take the leg.

[Chocolatechipkt]

Chocolat by Joanne Harris.

Her other books include Five Quarters of the Orange and Blackberry Wine, but Chocolat is the best, IMO. Her books have become darker (and less appealing, to me) over time.

[lwbookeater]

I

[Breezychow]

As someone who loves to read & loves to cook, something that may be a big help to you is - "The Book Lover's Cookbook - Recipes Inspired by Celebrated Works of Literature and the Passages that Feature Them", by Shaunda Kennedy Wenger & Janet Kay Jensen. All the recipes in it pertain to great works of literature. Fabulous book that I picked up online thru Daedalus Books for just a few bucks.

[gaffk]

Thanks Breezy. I didn't know what I was going to get one particular friend for Christmas . . .I think this is it.

[Breezychow]

It's not a fancy book by any means - no photographs or anything - but a fun read with interesting recipes. Maybe if you do a search online you might find some more info or reviews of it.

[gaffk]

Will do. But she is a lit prof and a foodie, so it sounds like a great fit.

[Breezychow]

Then she most likely will love it. I'm not a lit. prof. but am an avid reader of classic literature, & I love the book.

[gaffk]

Already ordered. Like you, not a prof, but an avid reader of the classics. Really, I think you may have given me the best gift ever for this friend.

[ediblover]

Two obvious ones that come to mind are:

Bottle/Cake - Alice in Wonderland
Peach - The Grapes of Wrath

Others, though less prominent:

Gruel - Olive Twist
Chocolate covered cotton - Catch-22
Bread and cheese - Jane Eyre
Wedding cake - Great Expectations

[gaffk]

Do not overlook young Pip's Christmas dinner. He's feeding Magwitch and the constables appear. The description of his sister's food is classic.

Must re-read Catch-22 as I do not remember chocolate covered cotton; just remember Major Major bailing out the window. (Damn . . .every time I drop a bomb on them they try to shoot me ;-)

[Albertagirl]

The Auberge of The Flowering Hearth
I read this 20 odd years ago, must reread it!

[cubano]

Émile Zola's third novel, "Le Ventre de Paris," describes the Parisian Farmer's Markets in exquisite detail, and much of the action involves a charcutier. Also, as Wikipedia says, Zola's "description of the olfactory sensations experienced upon entering a cheese shop, has become known as the "Cheese Symphony" due to its ingenious orchestral metaphors."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Ventr...

[DiningDiva]

All of Daniel Reveles books-

Enchiladas, Rice & Beans
Tequila, Lime & Salt
Guacamole Dip
Salsa & Chips

Not only is food the object of the titles, many of the short stories revolve around food in one way or another.

[gbrl]

If you're inclined to suport local literary endeavors, a couple of years ago San Diego City Works Press published collection called Hunger and Thirst: Food Literature. It include local writers as well as some heavyweights like Barbara Kingsolver and Denis Chavez.

[Beach Chick]

A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle
Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Green Eggs and Ham by the beloved Dr. Seuss

[The Office Goat]

The Hobbit: When the dwarves and Gandalf are raiding Bilbo's pantry/cupboards. Bilbo is serving, but the others seem to know everything he's got stashed away and are asking for it all.

[phee]

Just making sure you also caught these threads in the Food Media and News forum, as they may be helpful:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/507978?tag=search_results;results_list

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/3029...

[Ewilensky]

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov - lots of great Russian feasts

Proust's Remembrance of Things Past - the madeleine scene

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - the Christmas breakfast scene

Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children - food tied to memory

Zola's The Masterpiece - lovely images from opulent private dining rooms

Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Ernest - amazing descriptions of afternoon tea

C.S. Lewis The Lion, The Witch... Turkish Delight. Yum!

Margaret Atwood's The Edible Woman

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - a great scene about asparagus and then an even greater scene about asparagus pee ;-)

And if escargot is on the menu, the beginning of my favorite novel The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino begins with his sister serving up snails tied with wire in the shape of swans for no other reason than to be cruel.

[lemons]

re The Importance of Being Ernest: "One can't eat muffins in an agitated manner." My favorite line.

[Bada Bing]

I applaud your reading list!

[Passadumkeg]

The Master & Margarita is one of my old favorites.
I taught Like Water for Choclate and as and end of book activity, they made food from the book.
Vardis Fisher's Mountain Man.

[hazelhurst]

CAnnot go wrong with Il Gattopardo

[jmckee]

I have never read that. Mary Ann Esposito mentions it in one of her books, and it sounds scrumptious.

[DiningDiva]

Like Water for Chocolate
James and the Giant Peach
Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Fried Green Tomatoes
Winnie the Pooh