Food and Drink in Fiction

I'm figuring that this link is at least tangentially on-topic for this comm, and might be of potential use for theme parties and the like:   http://community.livejournal.com/fan_foods/

So far, subjects have included butterbeer from Harry Potter, fireflakes from Avatar, and the tea cookies over which Utena and Anthy joke about poisoning each other.

(The Journalfen Fandom Lounge thread on which I found it also yielded these recipes for Avatar-themed cocktails: http://community.livejournal.com/boozebenders/15712.html )

I don't deny that the joke about food in Fantasyland always being Stew is funny. But, given that cooking meat/vegetables/a starchy food up together with water in a pot is one of the universal cooking methods, what else to call it, short of inventing a local name? A "mess of pottage"?

Or, take this one: I'm working on a sword-and-sorcery story in which three characters are travelling across country. They are taking turns to carry one cooking utensil - it's something like a paella pan, about a foot in diameter with handles at the sides. (This means it can simply be carried strapped to the outside of a pack by a strap passing through the handles - much easier to carry than a billy-can or small cauldron banging about.) If they kill any game they can fry it in the pan, but they are also carrying rice, dried onions and dried meat, and mostly they will cook those up in water, like a risotto or a paella. The question is, what can I call this? I can't call it "risotto" or "paella" without instantly referencing Italian or Spanish culture. It seems a bit laboured to invent a name for it in the local language and have to explain that karch is "rice, dried onions and dried meat cooked up with water in a pan".  But I can't think of a better solution.

ratmmjess is a literary historian, encyclopedist, and, most recently, fiction writer whose researches unearth a mindboggling treasure hoard of obscure historical and pop-cultural weirdiana, much of which he's good enough to share on his blog.

This Nazi propaganda essay, bringing racial anxiety  to the produce department, rails against the insidious tropical allure of that non-Aryan temptress, the lemon, and exhorts good Germans to adopt the sturdy native rhubarb of the Fatherland instead: http://ratmmjess.livejournal.com/213384.html 

(The comment thread is a lot of fun, too: "Our flatulence shall be Wagnerian!" "Freedom fries aren't free!")

Hey guys-

As ever, I'm need of some help with my story that is currently being set in Paris. Any help with the below questions is greatly appreciated!

Favorite wine of the French? 
Favorite non-alcoholic beverage (hot and cold) of the French?
Favorite snack of the French? 

a million thank-you's!

I've just discovered that I've hit a roadblock in an original story I'm writing. As far as timeline and place goes, it varies, taking place in a few cities across the US (Phoenix, Las Angeles, Detroit, and New York City) and starting in the late sixties, going through the seventies.

My character drinks alcohol, and is not particularly discernable for his choices. He'll drink wine, beer and liquor, but last night I realised I'm now out of my realm of experience. My experience with liquors has always been mixing something hard with soda (vodka and 7up, or rum and coke as examples), but he has never liked soda.

There lies my problem. I know people do straight shots of liquor, and some liquors can be served with water, though I don't know if all liquors can be mixed with water. Of course, you can also do drinks 'on the rocks.'

Without specifically mixing liquor with more liquor, what other combinations would exist in the sixties and seventies?

Please and thank you. :)

Hi there, I'm working on a story that's based loosely off of Renaissance Italy, and I was wondering, what would a average middle class lunch look like?

And also, what sorts of fruits and vegetables are found there?

Thanks in advance.

Hi again! 

In another of my on-going stories, I have a family (quite a large one) living in London. What might their children (ranging in ages from newborn to 10 years of age) eat as preferred meals and snacks? 

Thank you once again for all of your help!


 

So, writing a story in semi-kinda-sorta-but-not-really Japan*, at about present day. My characters are going to an insanely fancy art museum exhibit opening of a regional artist with (semi-kinda-sorta-but-not-really) European influences. What sorts of refreshments would be served at something like that?

My main character is going to be nine at the time, if age is an issue about what he'd have access to.


*specifically it's a Pokémon fic, animeverse, but we haven't seen that much of a wide variety of food in the series, especially not fancy stuff.

Hi all-

Hope you are well and the year is off to a great start. Just a quick question, what might one order from a cafe or other type of casual restaurant in Paris for lunch? 

thanks for the help!

I posted this over in fanficrants  and longlongwaytogo  suggested it might be a good idea to post it here as well, so here it is, slightly edited for later developments. :-)

OK, I know the canon has ghastly glaring anachronisms (sandwiches at Camelot? WTF? [1]), but it still sets my teeth on edge when I see a fic based around  Merlin bringing Arthur hot chocolate, since the stuff didn't gain popularity in Europe until the 1500s. Wouldn't have been so bad if it was a passing mention, but it was central to the story.  Also, it's referrred to as something Merlin had at home in Wales and Arthur was completely unaware of, which seems the wrong way round; if a shipment had somehow made its way across the Atlantic way ahead of schedule, you'd expect it to have come to the larger urban areas first

[1] Actual sandwiches wouldn't necessarily be a problem I suppose, but one of the characters explicitly calls them that in one episode, several centuries too early...

ETA - just to clarify, I'm talking about the currently airing BBC series "Merlin" here. Other versions of Merlin may have access to/be aware of chocolate. I'm fairly sure this one doesn't. Or at any rate, shouldn't. (I added this because people weren't sure which version of Merlin I was talking about)

ETA 2:- So, as at episode 7, we have potatoes in canon.  I give up. Clearly the canon writers have no idea about food in medieval England either...

So, I was watching second series of Gilmore Girls, and Lorelai and Suki were planning a big '19th century' dinner, including peacock, a whole lot of different mushrooms, pumpkin soup etc. It sounded quite nice. Apparently the staff (and the original guests) were going to be in costume, and the Squire of the area (not real) was going to host it in a dramatic sort of way.
Then you see the dinner that they end up having with their friends because the original guests couldn't come.

... and the costumes were not 19th century. It was more like 15th century.

*sigh*

Hello All,

Again i am in need of help. I'm trying to write a story about a russian girl during the years before and during WWII (1930's on).
The Story takes place in the western areas of Russia such as Saint Petersburg, Norgorod, Kurks, Perm and Moscow.
Does anyone know of any dishes? I need traditonal home meals, sweets,  resturaunt food and drinks from water to liquor.

I need the name of the dish, its ingredients,  and if you can taste and meathod of prepartion.

So. My Quest characters are going to be given a gypsy like caravan. (not exactly like a 'real' gypsy caravan, this one sleeps six though in a cramped way, and is probably a lot longer than a real gypsy caravan). And it will have food in it, already provided, that they'll discover when opening cupboards. What sort of food might there be there for them? It would be cooked in a tiny stove that they have in there, or, over a campfire. There's a small table for preparation, and maybe a couple of benches on top of cupboards, or something fold out.

Also I was wondering if it would make sense for them to save their peelings/scraps, and sell them to people along the way to feed to their animals? (I was thinking pigs or chickens).

Hey everyone! Don't forget about this comm while you work on your NaNoWriMo novels! Remember we're available 24/7 and we're also not likely to crash, and your posts won't get buried within 20 seconds. Also if you'd like to, I'd love it if you'd recommend this comm if people need help with food related things.
And good luck!

Uh.... I know no one's posted here in ages and ages and ages, but I went and read this story , and it immediately made me think of this comm. So. To any still existing members, here you go =D

Title: Dean in Vegetarian Hell  (A Food Fic)
Author: softbluebuddy
Pairing: Dean/Sam
Rating: R
Word Count: 3204
Warning:  Incestuous relationship between brothers
Beta: carinas_carinae

Summary: This is what happens when Dean and Sam are invited by a client to a garden party at an organic restaurant and Dean becomes disappointed when he realizes there is no meat being served at the party and Sam tries to convince Dean that eating vegetarian is an option. Sam of course has an uphill battle convincing Dean to try any of the food, and Dean tells Sam he is in Vegetarian Hell. But Sam has a very clever idea to get Dean to change his mind and give it a try.
 

( Click Here To Read Dean In Vegetarian Hell )

This is gonna sound reeeeally stupid, but when you go to a place where you can order steak, what's usually the smallest size they have? I want to say 6 ounces, but I'm not sure.

Area is fictional but based loosely on Japan, if that makes a difference (hamburger is easily gotten, but I think we've only seen steak in fantasy sequences so I'm not sure). Price is no object, since they're at a fancy place anyway.

So a while ago, I posted asking about duck and leeks.

Someone put it together what I was planning on cooking up. Hahaha yes.

Anyway, fandom revealed, I used that knowledge in a chapter I have of a character backstory. It was chapter 17, so if no one wants to root through the fic to understand what's going on, I'll quote the lunch part below (narrator character is canon, person he's with is an OC):

( Ducks and Leeks? How Farfetch'd! )

Okay.  I have 3 links to Food in Fiction.  One I wrote myself and it is the fifth chapter of a fic.  One was written by a friend of mine,virtualpersonal    as a gift for me, and one is the second chapter of a fic we collaborated on together.

These are all in the SPN Supernatural Fandom.

The first one is from a predominantly het fic, nc-17 featuring Dean Winchester and an OFC.  The chapter in question has warnings at the top but are het-kink-pegging-first time.  Here is the link for that:

Shot Through The Heart - Chapter 5A



The next one is the one that  virtualpersonal   wrote it is a PG fic featuring Dean Winchester and the waitress Scarlett who is having rather impure thoughts just watching him eat.

For The Love Of Food - Dean

 

The third fic is one we collaborated on together and in Chapter 2 there is an eating scene.  This is Dean and Sam Winchester and is known in the SPN fandom as Wincest as it is the two brothers and they end up having an incestuous sexual relationship.  The overall fic is 4 chapters and is NC-17.

Wish A Little Wish - Part Two




So, if anyone wants to read  food_in_fiction  , here are three links.  I tried to give appropriate warnings here because I don't want to freak anyone out and I know everything isn't for everybody.  There are also warnings at the tops of the chapters. 

I hope this is okay.  It would be awesome if some other people posted links to chapters of their stories that feature food.  I'd love to read them. 


 

I joined this comm back when it was spotlighted on LJ.

It seems like people ask questions as they are writing fic, but I haven't really seen any posts that link the finished fic, or the chapter of the fic that involved food in fiction.

Isn't that the point?  You get help so that you make it a better food scenario, then when you actually write a food scenario you post it with appropriate warnings and include a link?  Because I haven't seen any links at least in the most 20 recent posts that someone actually posted a link to food in fiction.  That is what this comm is called, isn't it? 

If I'm wrong, let me know.  If not, I'll include a link.  There would definitely be warnings as it is fanfic het nc-17 with a lot of sex in the second half of the chapter, but the one character cooks for the other while he sits and watches and they enjoy the meal before the sex stuff happens.  Is that kind of what the comm does?  People can then discuss if your food in fiction seemed realistic?  Or is it an all before the fic is written kind of comm?

EDIT-I didn't actually mean for the writing of the food to be critiqued.  Sorry it was late when I wrote this.  I just thought it would be interesting to see what people do with the food scenes in their fics.  I'd personally be interested in seeing finished fics or chapters that include food.