Food for Fantasy

"People who love to eat are always the best people" - Julia Child

Food is an essential part of our lives, and when we read, if it's missing it feels like something is left out. From the Turkish Delight in Narnia, to Butterbeer in the Prisoner of Azkaban - thinking about the food in a fantasy setting helps to ground the characters. They have a favorite food? They're eating?

Food plays a huge role in some of the earliest literature, from an apple in a garden to huge feasts in Shakespeare. Certainly food can be omitted from a narrative, but, when it's included, and included well - it adds a delightful essence to the story that is otherwise missed.

The following list is full of delightful eats in some of the best voices in literature. This valentine's day instead of eating your feelings, maybe curl up with one of these books.... and then eat your feelings.

At the end of each one, I've put a link of a recipe from a devoted fan that you can try. If you want.

1. Turkish Delight from the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

“Turkish Delight, please, your Majesty,” said Edmund.

The Queen let another drop fall from her bottle on to the snow, and instantly there appeared a round box, tied with green silk ribbon, which, when opened, turned out to contain several pounds of the best Turkish Delight. Each piece was sweet and light to the very centre and Edmund had never tasted anything more delicious. He was quite warm now, and very comfortable.

If you've never had it, um. . . maybe don't try it. It's . . . well the description of it here is better than the actual taste. There are some that disagree because taste is subjective, but when a lot of people have the same opinion of a food - it generally rings true.

It's not that good. Yet Edmund sells his family out for this treat. Read that description though - It's magic Turkish Delight. It's Edmunds desire given form. The fact that it's Turkish Delight shouldn't get your mouth watering. More so it's the round box, tied with green silk ribbon: The presentation. Containing several pounds? Who's going to eat all of it, it speaks to a sense of a greed and gluttony that exists within us all.

Each piece was sweet and light to the very center. You don't have to taste actual Turkish Delight to know that this confection sounds absolutely marvelous.

Not only this though, but it was the feeling he had after eating it. He was warm and comfortable. Edmund didn't sell his family out for a treat one could buy from a store, but from a well presented feast of sweets. From a sweet that was 'the best' he had ever had. Most of all, for the feeling of warmth and comfort in the middle of a cold and desolate place.

I might not sell out my family for that, but depending on the family member it'd be a close call

http://thelittlelibrarycafe.com/blog/2014/12/23/turkish-delight-the-lion-the-witch-and-the-wardrobe

2. Prancing Pony dinner from Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R Tolkien

There was hot soup, cold meats, a blackberry tart, new loaves, slabs of butter, and half a ripe cheese: good plain food, as good as the Shire could show, and homelike enough to dispel the last of Sam's misgivings

Here, unlike the singular Turkish Delight mentioned previously, we have an array of food. Simple one word description stringing together a fresh but sturdy meal.

It was the meal that the small group of adventurers would enjoy before heading into the darkness of the world. It's hard to replicate the food of one's homeland, the food that can 'dispel misgivings' - it's not a fancy intricate feast for nobles, but food of substance and fire.

It should also be mentioned that this meal, like the last one, doesn't just describe the food itself, but gives the people who enjoy it a feeling of warmth and comfort.

As with all truly good meals the comfort here may not just come from the food but from the company that it is enjoyed with.

https://co-geeking.com/2016/03/17/making-supper-at-the-prancing-pony/

3. Jean's dinner from Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch

Jean’s dinner, smoked rock eel in caramel brandy sauce, lay chopped into fragments and scattered like debris from a battle. He was making his way slowly through dessert, a cluster of marzipan dragonflies with crystallized sugar wings that glimmered by the steady glow of the booth’s candles

I don't know what it is about food that I have no earthly idea what it is, that gets me so excited. When I read this for the first time I was able to truly get into the scene, I wanted to make my way into that dessert. I wanted to pop those dragonflies into my mouth. Dragonflies. Why on earth would I want to. - reminiscent of the grubs from the Lion King I just want to eat bugs apparently.

Eating in real life feels monotonous, but in Fantasy when done correctly it adds a depth to the character. This is the kind of food they enjoy, this is how they slow down to eat. Do they swallow things whole, or like Jean, does he make his way slowly through the dessert.

In a fast paced thriller like the Lies of Locke Lamora, and Red Seas Under Red Skies, placing a meal in a spot can be a nice change of pace, allowing not only the character, but the reader to slow down, take a breather, and maybe a bite.

https://www.innatthecrossroads.com/marzipan-dragonflies/

4. Blue food from the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan

We walked on the beach, fed blue corn ships to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy and all the other free samples my mom brought home from work.

Though it might not be as savory or evoke a sense of warmth like the other descriptions, it adds to the story. All of the food mentioned isn't just a random meal that the characters enjoy, they all serve a purpose, and this is no different.

The blue food is from when his mom would make it because someone told her that 'blue food is impossible'

This is certainly not the only example in the series - Rick Riordan always tries to ground his characters in a sense of realism. Grover is a vegetarian "even though he eats cheese quesadillas and tin cans" Percy is a teenager so he enjoys pizza and soda.

It reminds the reader that not everything has to be meat and cheeses, it can be pizza and coke, and a weird seven-layered dip. Food doesn't belong in one category, it belongs in all shapes, in all sizes, and in all mouths.

5. Literally any food description from Brian Jacques' Redwall series

Tender freshwater shrimp garnished with cream and rose leaves, devilled barley pearls in acorn puree, apple and carrot chews, marinated cabbage stalks steeped in creamed white turnip with nutmeg… crusty country pasties, and these were being served with melted yellow cheese and rough hazelnut bread.

This is only one of a few dozen descriptions of food. In this series he goes absolutely ... HAM on the descriptions.

It's easy to see with just the sample paragraph how he develops a sense of comfort and overwhelming taste. He makes the mouth water hoping to find something like that in our world.

He makes liquor seem like it tastes good.

As with all of the other examples these descriptions don't just heighten the additive flair of a scene but enhance the characters perception of their world, their sense of hunger, of satisfaction and of fulfillment in their respective worlds.

Unlike the other ones, this series was so prominent in food descriptions they came out with an entire cookbook:

https://www.amazon.com/Redwall-Cookbook-Brian-Jacques/dp/0399237917

So whether it's pizza, a simple meal, a single sweet, or a feast fit for a 'mouse' - the food in fantasy helps to maintain the realism of fantasy, but more than that, it helps to bring a little fantasy to our worlds.

A fantasy we can taste.