Literary Feasts – Running the Rift, by Naomi Benaron

lamb chops with peas and potatoes

Naomi Benaron’s Running the Rift takes place in Rwanda and a  lot of the staple foods were unfamiliar to me, with the exception of a few vegetables. All of the food sounded delicious, and I took to the internet to look some of it up. Isombe is a stew made of cassava leaves, fresh vegetables, peanuts and peanut [...]

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Literary Feasts – The Beginners, by Rebecca Wolff/ Lamb Chops With Green Peas and Mashed Potatoes

lamb chops with peas and potatoes

Food in books usually serves a purpose greater than just the delight of my food loving heart. What people eat and how they react to it gives insight into their socio-economic status, tastes and preferences and character. In The Beginner, by Rebecca Wolff, Ginger’s mother has a view of food the informs the way you [...]

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Literary Feasts: The First Husband, by Laura Dave/ Lobster Scrambled Eggs

Lobster and Eggs

I always feel like I have hit the jackpot when a character in a book is a chef. Yummy things are usually in store, and that is definitely the case in The First Husband by Laura Dave, due out next week. The novel is a delightful read, all about trying to figure life out in [...]

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Literary Feasts: Enclave, by Ann Aguirre/ Or Why There Are No Feasts In a Dystopian Society

Fish

Food in books is not always plentiful or yummy, especially when you live in a dystopian society where the goal of food may be primarily for sustenance and nutrition, and not personal taste or pleasure. In Enclave by Ann Aguirre food is such a function of survival that it isn’t even named. It’s exactly what [...]

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Literary Feasts: Dark Mirror, by M.J. Putney

oxtail soup

Lately, as I have considered food in book I have looked at the way that the food discussed contributes to the mood and shores up what is being communicated in the story. In Dark Mirror: A Novel by M.J. Putney the main character, Victoria starts off in an uncomfortable situation and far from home and [...]

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Literary Feasts: Dracula In Love, by Karen Essex – White Fish w. Wine & Capers

striped-bass-lemons-wine-ghk0407

Picky eater that I was growing up, it took me years to figure out that I liked sauces and I that I actually liked them over food instead of meticulously separated out and consigned to Siberia on my plate.  The chances of me ordering something these days goes up immensely is it comes with a [...]

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Literary Feasts – Stranger Here Below, by Joyce Hinnefeld: Spoon Bread

Literary Feast Banquet Image @ Linus's Blanket

Though mentioned only briefly in Stranger Here Below, by Joyce Hinnefeld, spoon bread is mentioned a few times and it caught my attention as possibly being either southern in origin (from the sound of the name), or maybe a dish native to Kentucky.  As it turns out, it is both Southern and a point of pride [...]

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Literary Feasts: Dracula, My Love, by Syrie James

Literary Feast Banquet Image @ Linus's Blanket

I love tarts.  Love them.  I think they were probably the first “sophisticated” dessert that I developed a taste for, which tells you something about my eating habits as a child.  I was a very finicky eater.  My mom often had to cook two versions of a dish so that I would have something to [...]

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Literary Feasts: Evil?, by Timothy Carter

Literary Feast Banquet Image @ Linus's Blanket

I wanted to do an interview one of the authors of the books competing in the upcoming Nerds Heart YA Tournament which was created last year as a YA to find and publicize underrepresented writers in YA.  I was a judge last year and passed the winning book onto the final round.  Tis year I [...]

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Literary Feasts: The Post-Birthday World, by Lionel Shriver

Literary Feast Banquet Image @ Linus's Blanket

I have never been a huge fan of either chocolate or coffee, but there are some things that I hear about that fall under the category of exception.  Molten chocolate cakes fall into this category – I never met one that I didn’t like and devour after telling myself that I would only eat half. [...]

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