I had to post about this because what Gina said about not having any strong associations with food and books struck a chord. I was surprised to realize that I too have no particular foods associated with particular books. Especially surprised because I am a serious foodaholic. I positively adore food.
I have plenty of books that I love about food (Laurie Colwin, MFK Fisher, John Thorne, Michael Lee West); I have plenty of books that I love with good food in them (any English novel is sure to contain a description of some amazing afternoon tea). And I almost always eat while I am reading - I mean, not constantly, but a cup of tea and a snack while reading a good novel is one of life's finest pleasures. I have books with pink corners from pistachios and redhots; books with chocolate smudges, jam smudges, tea stains...a veritable record of my eating habits thru the years. But I don't associate a particular kind of food with any one book. And I can just as happily munch away while reading some gory forensics book as I can while reading Jane Austen. (Stomach of iron...when I am not pregnant, anyway...)
Although I will say that one of my earliest book memories, as well as one of my earliest food memories, is about reading one of the first Bobbsey Twins, when the twins get lost in the woods and make hot chocolate from melted snow and melted Hershey bars. I always wanted to try that. Alas, that suburban NJ snow again...
4 comments:
I remember thinking that the Bobbsey's hot chocolate must have been gross. :-)
Do you think there are people who DON'T eat when they read?
"They" say it's a bad idea because then you associate food with book, and you have to then eat when you read. Why is this bad, I ask? Oh, wait, I forgot, I don't mind being thirty pounds overweight.
"They" say you shouldn't do anything other than eat or converse with a tablemate while you eat. Screw them. If you don't read at the table, we probably can't be friends.
A cup of tea is the perfect companion for almost any book (or a pot, even better). My first book/food associations are the Turkish Delight in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and the sugar snow in Little House in the Big Woods.
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