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!
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.