Does food add flavor to your writing?
Before you snort indignantly and wave away the idea, consider writers in coffee houses, sucking down caffeinated beverages and chai latte as fast as humanly possible, often with a comfortable croissant or fruits pastry on the side. Consider the many times favorite foods have been the subject of poems (yes, even Burns’ haggis) or how poets and authors alike have embroiled food or drink into their stanzas and paragraphs as much an integral part of the story as the supporting characters.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, yon penner of the great Sherlock Holmes books, was a gourmet food appreciation specialist… to the point where he mentioned his favorite restaurants in several of his stories. He often described what food Mrs. Hudson brought and what food the main character waved away, too deeply enshrined in his own genius to think of food… yet it was present.
Shakespeare himself was not beyond swirling food/eating/dining descriptions about his iambic pentameter.
“Nay, you shall see my orchard, where, in an arbour, we will eat a last year's pippin of my own graffing, with a dish of caraways, and so forth: come, cousin Silence: and then to bed.” -Henry the Fifth
… And even a market list or two.
“… I must have saffron to colour the warden pies; mace; dates?--none, that's out of my note; nutmegs, seven; a race or two of ginger, but that I may beg; four pound of prunes, and as many of raisins o' the sun.” - The Winter’s Tale
Many writers like sipping fragrant tea while typing; my own notebooks are puckered with tea drops or various types, and drop of apple cider as well; they contrast nicely with the flecks of dark chocolate, miniscule crumbs of oatmeal cookie, smidgens of shortbread and strawberry seeds, while the scent of fresh mango (lovingly consumed) hovers over the page like a long-evaporated mist.
I’ve noticed that the food one eats influences the characters themselves, as well as the setting of the story. Warm rice pudding, for example, makes for a comfortable, home setting where the character sitting back, relaxing… perhaps having a bit of pleasant conversation with a loved one. Coffee that has cooled considerably whilst one is typing gives the prose a bitter edge, chilly throes of danger and a boost of energy… along with uncertain aftertastes. Hot cocoa is altogether stupefying and seems to hinder the writing abilities to the point that one must lean back and enjoy the beverage uninhibited. Fresh bread spread with Irish butter makes me want to finish two entire chapters, pausing now and then to crunch down the remaining crumbs on the plate.
I know everyone is not affected thusly by certain foods, but everyone seems to have a few they find comforting… even inspiring.
Meredith Greene
