Food and Literature

 

The Foods for Thought

You can almost choose any topic to write about as long as you are passionate about writing and have your creative style. Food is, if not essential, but a delectable addition to the creative genre. Especially in anime and manga, there are all kinds of mouth-watering photographs. This pop culture has somewhat helped Japanese food to be popular worldwide. But apart from the traditional amalgamation, writers have put great effort into portraying the psychological ramifications of food and nutrition in practical life. 

 

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake  

The novel by Aimee Bender explores an untraditional plot about food. What if you could taste the emotions of people by eating the food they cook? The particular sadness of lemon cake tells the story of Rose, a young girl who suddenly discovers that she can taste the disappointments and oppressiveness from eating her mother's cooking. At first, she thinks it is some kind of fallacy, but her tastebuds can sense emotions in other people's cooking as well. The girl falls into a great dilemma. As time goes by, she learns to adjust to the feeling and decides to help people by using her gifted ability. 

 

The Edible Woman

This novel is a brilliant narration by Margaret Atwood. The concept is audacious and shows the turmoils of being in an unequal relationship. The protagonist of the Novel, Marian encounters unappetizing flavours when she tries to eat meat, and soon she is unable to eat anything materialistic. Struggling with hunger and emotional subservience, she realizes that her boyfriend is feeding on her. Or metaphorically devouring her soul. She bakes her boyfriend a cake in the shape of a woman, the theme of inspiration for naming the novel. 

 

Other than these two scrumptious pieces of writings, I would recommend the following books if you really want to explore how food can influence literature.

Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet by Charlie N. Holmberg   

The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran

Feast of Sorrow by Crystal King

Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown

State of the Onion by Julie Hyzy