There’s a great scene in Frank McCourt’s Teacher Man where he gets his high school students to read recipes and cookbooks out loud and discuss them as if they were poetry. I love cookbooks– in fact, the joy I get from reading cookbooks was one of the big factors in helping become a better cook. The lists of ingredients like cardamom and meringue, the directions to fold and whip and simmer are all pure poetry.
I bought myself a new cookbook yesterday, Little Cakes: Classic Cakes for Any Occasion, because I’m planning a birthday brunch for a friend, but was then fascinated by the text of the book itself. Susan Waggoner, the author, got many of the recipes from vintage cookbooks and sprinkles the text with historical information as well. Did you know that in Roman times, white flour was much more intensive to make than whole wheat, and therefore served as a sign of luxury and status? Did you know that the first cookbook published by an ex-slave was What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking, in 1881? Or that chocolate-based cake recipes did not become common until the end of the 19th century in America or Europe, that chocolate was used stricly in beverages?
Sure, those could be very helpful tidbits for authors of historical fiction or those writing about food or chef characters, even just for setting a period of history, food is rich with detail and significance. When I write short fiction, and am trying to better delineate a character, I always try to think of what their favorite food might be, and how they might eat it, and with whom.
Thanks for the reminder about using food historically. I used food to characterize my contemporary hero and his family and was using it to some degree in my historical chapters, but you’ve just reminded me that, with a little more research, I can make even greater use of the “food connection” in both story lines. Keep writing! –kayoungblog
I love fiction that has food as a strong or connecting element, so I’m happy to hear I helped!