10 (or more) Foods Writers Can’t Live Without
The 10 foods I deem essential to a writer. Not necessarily in this order, but you can’t write without food! Feel free to disagree/add to this list (Eleven Top…?)
- Peanut butter: My favorite! Deadline? Eat a PB & J sandwich, keep on keeping on. I call it the writer’s best friend. Peanut butter weaseled its way into more than one of my novels.
- Chili: I am widowed, but I used to cook it for my family. Chili is like writing. I never write the same way, & I never fix chili the same way.
- Chocolate: I feel sorry for the Europeans before Columbus. No chocolate. Like most writers, I save it for a reward. After I finish a manuscript, or I sign a publishing contract. (When I finish this blog is a good excuse)
- Coffee: Why wasn’t this first? What writer doesn’t drink too much coffee? I love to write in coffee shops. Coffee shops usually sneak into my stories.
- Ice cream: I really love ice cream, so I seldom keep it at home. What’s this self-control stuff I keep hearing about?
- Pumpkin: Pie, bread, vegetable, pumpkin butter with my peanut butter, almost any way. We all have our personal likes that defy explanation, & I have no explanation.
- Cornbread: Eating warm cornbread/johnnycakes fresh from the skillet takes me back to childhood. All my stories take place in the south, & cornbread shouts, South!
- Cheese: See ice cream to understand why I avoid it. I have a cat who loves it. If I do bring it home, she climbs on me & demands her share. (& gets more than her share)
- Pizza: I’m sure no one is shocked by this. I don’t think I ever met anyone who doesn’t like it. And it has worked its way into most of my novels.
- Fried green tomatoes: I know; this shouts SOUTH more than anything else. This is a hate it or love it item, but I LOVE it.
I stick food into all my stories, but my editors cut most food references. Stick to the story, they fuss. (Don’t tell them) I sneak some back in. People gotta eat!
C. T. Suddeth 
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins was full of detailed descriptions of food, eating and the emotions of eating when hungry. I think your editors shouldn’t probably cut all your food references. They bring a primal emotion to the reader, adding non-visual, non-auditory texture.
I agree. I will keep trying.