Food in Fiction

I've always had a weakness for either 1) foods in films or 2) descriptions of food in books. If done well, then it adds to the sensory experience of the overall product, especially if the character eating said food is cool. This has been an inherent problem for me ever since I was six or seven, when I read a picture book where the hard-worked protagonist always longed for a cold dish of chocolate sorbet.

So, a little list of food cravings I developed as result of a book or film:

Books:

Any Fantasy Writer
It seems that all fantasy writers love to include sumptuous descriptions of food in their books. And why not? Imagining the taste of food is often better than the actual taste. And for someone like JK "I never met an adverb I didn't like" Rowling or JRR Tolkien, these elaborate, sensual details can only enrich the expanses of a fantastical world and draw the reader further in, whether it be Hogwarts' Main Hall or orchard of Narnia.


Ex #1: Redwall, Brian Jacques "Tender freshwater shrimp garnished with cream and rose leaves, devilled barley pearls in acorn puree, apple and carrot chews, marinated cabbage stalks steeped in creamed white turnip with nutmeg,.." "half a dozen boiled eggs, some crisp summer slad, two loaves of hot bread, two hazelnut cream junkets, two- no, better make it four - oven baked apple pies, and chuck in some medium-size quince tarts and October nutbrown ale."

Ex #2: Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House on the Prairie" Series. Even harder to bear. There are half-chapters devoted to passages about making of the food, the history of food, relishing the taste of food.

"Almanzo ate the sweet, mellow baked beans. He ate the bit of salt pork that melted like cream in his mouth. he hate mealy boiled potatoes, with brown ham-gravy. He ate the ham. He bit deep into velvety bread spread with sleek butter, and he ate the crisp golden crust. He demolished a tall heap of pale mashed turnips, and a hill of stewed yellow pumpkin. Then he sighed and tucked his napkin deeper into the neckband of his red waist. And he ate plum preserves and strawberry jam, and grape jelly, and spiced watermelon-rind pickles. He felt very comfortable inside. Slowly he ate a large piece of pumpkin pie."

Ex. #3: The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett "Fresh roasted eggs, roasted potatoes with butter and jam, oatcakes and current buns with clotted cream, muffins, and sizzling ham"
Ridiculous.

Films:
Films traditionally focus more on a specific dish or food item, unless it's a food orgy like Julie and Julia. I'm usually more obsessed if it's just one.

Cannoli - The Godfather

"Leave the gun. Take the cannoli." Enough said.

Milkshakes - Pulp Fiction, There Will Be Blood

I legitimately craved for milkshakes endlessly after I saw There Will Be Blood. Pulp Fiction only made me desire it in a classic tall glass with whipped cream and a cherry.



Especially the other day when I ordered a milkshake and it turned out to be a "five dollah milkshake."


French Toast - Kramer vs. Kramer
Exactly the way Dustin Hoffman makes it.


Macarons - Marie Antoinette

I'm not even sure macarons were directly in the movie, but there's definitely the association, with what the famous Parisian macaron bakery Laduree providing all the pastel-colored treats.


Pies - Waitress



"Falling in Love Pie"

Strudel with FRESH CREAM - Inglourious Basterds
During a recent visit to an adorable Austrian cafe in the city, I not only demanded whipped cream but when it came on the plate adjacent to the strudel, I took a spoon and scooped it onto the strudel instead.