This whole piece got started by an idle
discussion between my husband and I about food in the Lord of the
Rings. After that, I just started noticing all of the references to
food, food preparation and meals in the books I was reading. It's not
an exhaustive survey, just what I've noticed recently and some
examples I remember reading in the past.
The Importance of Food and Drink in
Fiction
Food and drink. The two are integral to
every society I can think of or have read about in real life or in
fiction. From a meeting in a coffee shop to a lavish feast being
served up in front of the main characters, it can range from an
elaborate background setting to something far more integral to the
plot, or the characters.
The familiarity or strangeness of the
foods being served or made by the characters can act as a barometer
to the intended familiarity or strangeness of the worlds that the
books are set in. A few examples might be the foods that the hobbits
eat in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (apples, beer, bacon
and mushrooms for example), meant to represent our own Europe in a
distant past, or perhaps the foods from Pern (Klah, wherry, packtail,
redfruit, tubers), the world created by Anne McCaffrey, an alien
planet. Some authors have taken a middle ground, where some of the
foods are our own, but perhaps some of the seasonings or drinks are
unfamiliar – the direction taken by Elizabeth Moon in the
Paksenarrion's World books (cheese, onions, stews, but also sib and
asar).
Done well, the use of food in a novel
can be a way of involving the reader's senses into the story through
their own experiences and memories. To use one of Mercedes Lackey's
books as an example, in Magic's Price there is a scene where the main
character is enjoying a piece of bread fresh out of the oven with
butter melting into it. Who doesn't know the taste and smell of that?
Or the smell of a large pot of soup on the stove?
Some books use food and drink to
illustrate elements of the characters personalities, as Mercedes
Lackey did in The Fire Rose. Rosalind Hawkins' preference for
unladylike sandwiches went along with her other unladylike interests
in reading, history and languages, as well as her desire for a
university education. Another Mercedes Lackey novel, By The Sword
opens with the main character, Kerowyn, supervising the preparations
for her brother's marriage feast. Really, her place should have been
out participating in the feast itself though. However, for various
reasons she's in the kitchen, which suggests in hind-sight that she's
something of an outsider at the Keep – which is proven throughout
the book. Then, going back to Tolkien and The Hobbit for another example, you have
Beorn, the skin-changer, who could also take on the form of a great
bear. He lived, according to Gandalf, mostly on cream and honey,
which you might say reflected his other form as a bear.
Outside of restaurant scenes, how meal
and food preparation is presented to us as the audience can also say
a lot about the worlds the characters are inhabiting. If we only see
perfectly done, finished meals presented to the characters, it
suggests to me one of two things. Either they are upper-class with
servants to do all the work, or else the world is a high-tech one a
la Star Trek with its replicators to do most of the day-to-day
cooking. It's not only how the foods are presented, but also the
ingredients used, however – venison, hare, rabbit, onions etc all
say to me “good, solid, homey food”. On the other hand, eels and
other exotic dishes are more likely to suggest that the meals are
designed to be impressive, and often expensive.
Eating and drinking is also very much a
social thing to do. Especially when it comes to historical fiction
and fantasy, though it's still very prevalent in more modern
settings. How often do you see the characters agreeing to meet up for
a drink? These days it would be a coffee and a muffin. In historical
fiction it's more likely to be wine or scotch (for men) and tea and
biscuits for women. One of the biggest set-pieces as well is the
great feast, with all of it's attendant preparations and rituals.
This is one that you see most often in the historical fiction and
fantasy realms – either from the preparation side as in By The
Sword, or from the perspective of one of the diners – think of some
of the feasts in Diana Gabaldon's books for example.
Continuing with a further look into the
third book of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, nearly every time
characters are meeting socially there is food involved: Ginger
biscuits in one of the 1960's scenes. Sherry or port for the men in
the 18th century scenes – or, hare pie or a savory in
the same time period in Scotland. Diana Gabaldon is an author who
isn't going to shy away from the kitchen and food preparations in her
books, and it adds so much richness to her writings.
Broadening out, food, or the lack of
may well be a plot-point in and of itself. In J.R.R. Tolkien's The
Hobbit, the prevalence or scarcity of food is one of the keys to the
characters' emotional states. The less food they have, the more
irritable and angry they get – and several times, they run out of
food entirely, or believe they are about to, adding more tension to
the story. Similarly in the early books of the Change series by S. M.
Stirling (Dies The Fire and The Protector's War) we see the lengths
that the characters will or will not go to to get food due to the
sudden scarcity thanks to the Change, and the meals are certainly
more than a background setting. Another example of the lengths that
characters will go to in order to get food is in Suzanne Collins
Hunger Games trilogy where teenagers are willing to increase their
chances at being drawn for Tribute in order to get food for
themselves and their families. Not to mention what they're willing to
consider food!
Similarly, we see the cycle of the year
shown through the foods and quantities of foods available as the
seasons change in S. M. Stirling's books, and more subtly in the
Outlander books. From seasonal feasts to scarcity, it's all there and
it has an effect on the characters lives and actions. I know that
after reading the early Change books, I have a greater appreciation
for the humble backyard vegetable garden and it's potential.
And now, there's an interesting twist
on the food in novels/TV-series that's growing: the novel-themed
cookbook. I only know of a few so far, but they're definitely
interesting. The first one I saw came out around 2012, for the Game
of Thrones TV series, called A Feast Of Ice And Fire: The Official Game Of Thrones Companion Cookbook. It has it's own
unique twist, in that the authors took known medieval recipes and
modernized them. The Hunger Games has also inspired a few cookbooks,
although I'm not sure just how inspiring some of what the characters
are known to have been eating was.
The one that I want to read and test
the most though is the Outlander Kitchen cookbook. Due out this
summer, it looks like a good one, based on the blog of the same name.
Diana Gabaldon has included many a dish both humble and extravagant,
old and modern through her series of books, and the author of the
Outlander Kitchen started a blog inspired by the recipes, which has
since turned into a book. However, as far as I can tell, the blog is
still being updated as well, and what's more, all of the recipes I've seen there look absolutely delicious!
Dies The Fire
by S. M. Stirling: The sequel to Scourge of God.
. The first book of the Last Herald Mage trilogy by Mercedes Lackey.
by Charlotte Bronte.
by J.R. Ward. The sequel to 
The Protector's War