when my critique group read Silver Phoenix, they
joked that it should be published with a companion cook
book. when my debut entered the actual reading world,
i often got angry tweets and facebook posts from readers
complaining about how *hungry* they were while reading my novel.

i joke that food is a subplot within Silver Phoenix. haha!

it was never my intention to write so lovingly about food.
it just happened that way. ai ling likes her meals (i mean,
she's walking a lot and fighting demons and stuff and
trying to stay alive, who wouldn't work up an appetite?)
just as i do and it was natural for me to describe these meals.

also, i think food can very much contribute to
world building in a fantasy novel. food is such an important
part of the chinese culture, always bringing to mind time
with family and friends as well as festivities.
i wanted to write a fantasy novel that celebrated food as
much as the chinese culture does.

the following is a food passage from Silver Phoenix:

The midday meal did not disappoint.  The steamed silk-thread
bread was light and slightly sweet. This was paired with cold
spiced lotus roots and bean curd mixed with a savory minced
pork sauce.  She watched the two brothers dig in to the meal,
eating voraciously. Ai Ling wasn't used to competing at the table,
but she filled her small porcelain bowl often, for fear the food
would disappear.

i'm thrilled to have guest foodie interviews from both lisa mantchev and
sherwood smith today. i recently read and enjoyed fantasy novels
by them that also celebrated food!



lisa mantchev says...

1) How or why is food important in fantasy writing?

Food is an essential part of world-building, one of the few basic survival needs on a fundamental level and one of the best ways I can think of to convey setting and time period, style and tone. From the command-issuing "Eat Me" and "Drink Me" viands of Wonderland to the Turkish Delight of Narnia, the details about the food really clue the reader in to the world they've just entered.

2) Please share one (or a favorite) food passage from your own book(s).

From Eyes Like Stars, describing the Green Room where Bertie gets most of her food:

The refreshment selection varied wildly according to the Théâtre's whims, with cucumber sandwiches curling up their crustless edges in mortification one day while the next the table might boast flaming Christmas pudding and treacle roly-poly.

"Come on," Bertie hissed at the boys. "Your behavior can't possibly benefit from a massive intake of sugar, grease, or caffeine right now."

"Says you!" Cobweb protested. "Here! Have a doughnut!"

"Aren't you supposed to be upstairs?" Moth dove head-first into one of the cupcakes.

The horn speaker clicked on, its translucent bell trembling as it announced, "All Players to the stage, please. Repeat, all Players to the stage."

"I'm coming with you guys," Bertie said. "You can't ignore a call, so let's go."

"We shall resist until we have sated our appetites and slaked our thirst!" Mustardseed wriggled down the neck of a tall, glass bottle to guzzle a fizzy orange drink.

"Stay here to stuff your faces, then!" Bertie ducked into the corridor, threaded her way through the Ladies' Chorus, turned a corner, and set off down the empty hallway at a half-run.

"Why are we going this way?" Moth licked the frosting off his arms as he caught up.

"I have to find another way in," Bertie said. "The Stage Manager's sure to be standing guard at the other door, but he won't think to check the catwalks."

"Hey, Mustardseed took a bag of jelly beans!" Cobweb whined, far less concerned about access to the stage than stolen snacks.

"You can have the black one."

"But I wanted the red one!"

A muffled noise, then, "Now it's up my nose. Still want it?" followed by a very sulky "No!"

3) Do any other fantasy books come to mind when it comes to food descriptions?

The aforementioned Alice, with its Mad Tea Party and tart-making queen is an old favorite. Less well know, I am certain, is a scene in Julie (Andrews) Edwards The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles in which the children take a ride upon the Jolly Boat, which has an ice cream sundae contraption like a giant pipe organ and delivers your order with fanfare and trumpets. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, of course, with its chocolate waterfall... the abundance of that scene after being told Charlie eats only a tiny scraping of his birthday chocolate bar every day so as to make it last until next year is particularly poignant. And the scene in Mary Poppins (which I am reading now with my daughter) that Mary and Bert have jam cakes and tea on her Day Off brings us back to the idea of Victorian Tea Time. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention your own Silver Phoenix, which gave me terrible cravings for dumplings at eleven o'clock at night! ☺




sherwood smith says:

1. how or why is food important in fantasy writing?

Food is important! We can't get through a day without food, and neither can our characters if we want readers to believe in them. Characters with specific likes and dislikes--happy or sad or tense meals--these things contribute to my experience of a book when I am reading. I try to build that same experience when I'm writing. Also, getting specific about foods makes the world seem a bit more real. The more generic we get about food (or anything) the more like a Hollywood backdrop the world will seem.

2. please share one (or a favorite) food passage from
your own book(s).

Clang-whizz-splat. The front rank of tray-carriers jerked, and flung their pies straight at the startled guards. The pies burst against their heads and bod­ies, transforming them into wildly capering man-shaped piles of green goo. The Dol’jharians howled, dropping their weapons and wiping at their eyes; evidently something in the pie mix stung and burned. . .

Outside the kitchen, someone shouted commands. As Lokri followed the others toward the mechwaiters’ access, both doors blew open with a roar.

Guards in bulky battle armor thundered in, their servos whining loudly. The little tray-carriers facing the doors fired a salvo of pies as nozzled drink dispensers hosed the floor with a thick, curdled-looking grayish fluid that smelled of spoiled cake batter.

The pies had no effect on the guards’ momentum, but the slimy goop covered their helmets and effectively blinded them, while the slippery grayish fluid made it impossible for them to stop. Lokri was last; he risked a glance back as with majestic inevitability, the two squads collided with a tremendous crash, like vast beasts helpless in the throes of lust.

3. do any other fantasy books come to mind when it
comes to food descriptions?

Actually, the first book that came to mind was SILVER PHOENIX. The food descriptions in that book were such a joy. But it's difficult to select just one scene, because there is such a contrast--the elaborate fanfaronade of the horrible wedding feast contrasted with the simplicity of the later midday meal that was just fresh steamed fish, but we know that the meal has a little more importance than every day because it's usually served during New Year's. Enchanted meals with magic . . . enchanting meals with three lovely characters having a good time with one another . . . the meals enhance the sensory experience of the book as well as signaling emotional clues. Social and cultural clues as well.

...

what about you?

as a writer, how do use or incorporate
food in your stories? as a reader, do you
notice food in fantasy reading? what books
come to mind?