Booked to Perfection: On Pairing Your Favorite Books and Foods

I’ve recently discovered the wonders of Meetup.com — a social website used by everyday people to create or find groups with similar interests and then physically get together — and gone from being a member of zero book clubs to a member of three. This has been a great way to replace the void I’ve experienced as a post-grad, sadly no longer engaged in lit classes each day and missing the stimulus.

“Food frequents the pages of literature, overall, not merely to feed its characters but as an important metaphor, symbol, plot device. Books, wine, and eating all seem to find themselves together rather frequently.”

One of these is not merely a book club, but a cooking club— each month, we gather at someone’s house to discuss a book while sharing dishes that relate to it. The host chooses this “theme”, which typically relates to the time period of the film, the setting, or the content. Discussion flows much more smoothly, and our conversations over food have allowed us to enter the lives of the fictional characters we discuss. Food frequents the pages of literature, overall, not merely to feed its characters but as an important metaphor, symbol, plot device. Books, wine, and eating all seem to find themselves together rather frequently. Virginia Woolf, who placed much emphasis upon dining within her works, famously said that “one cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well”

Let’s look at some book and food pairings, then.

An American Marriage

Tayari Jones

We read this last month with the group, and the food theme was Southern food, to fit the Georgia setting of this novel. The Southern setting of An American Marriage reflects history — both of families and of the country — along with a sense of comfort and a signifier of wealth disparities. An American Marriage explores what happens to a newlywed couple after the husband, Roy, is falsely accused of a crime and sent to jail for five years. It is told through letters and the eyes of family members. This reflects upon the way that race influences our families, formative years, and relationships, and the ways in which prison influences relationships. Food is an important aspect of marriage, and, particularly in the South, is a means of showing love and connection. It’s especially important when considering the ways in which generic prison food serves to increase the severity of Roy’s isolation, and how food is used to comfort and welcome him upon his return. This month, our conversation explored how race serves as a construction, and the ways in which the relationships between generations in this novel reflect the intersecting influences of race and class on both men and women in America. Highlights included multiple unique Macaroni and Cheese dishes, peach cobbler, key lime pie, cornbread, and shrimp and grits.

For my contribution to this gathering I made a Key Lime Pie, a dish with ingredients originating in the South that is also beloved in the region as a classic comfort food. You can find the recipe I followed here.

Before We Were Yours

Lisa Wingate

The theme for this month was “food that reminds you of your family”. When I think of my family, particularly the Pennsylvania Dutch side, I think of thick, fulfilling, comfort foods — whoopie pies, baked beans, donuts, pretzels, etc. I went for this mac and cheese, which is a staple on both my mom and dad’s side of the family, and I’m sure a lot of other families too. Other highlights from the lunch included eggplant parmesan, apple pie, chocolate chip cookies, and water chestnuts rolled up in bacon. Before We Were Yours takes a heartbreaking look at families, exploring the lives of children taken from their birth parents and sold to richer families — a story based on the real-life story of the Tennessee Children’s Home Society. In this novel, the young characters face starvation at the hands of adults. Food, then, reminds them of true warmth and comfort from their biological families, and in some ways the later nourishment they receive from their adoptive families. Before being taken from their birth family, the children fondly recall their father catching fish while living on a shanty boat to feed them. Food also connects family members within the story, and is used as a means of distinguishing between wealth and poverty, between having and being without.

The Shining

Stephen King

This is our Halloween selection, of course. I’m excited to dig into the book version of a favorite film. Ideas include: pitch black squid ink spaghetti with red marinara sauce “blood”, pumpkin pie, candy corn. Researching a book after reading it can come in handy; for this one I found an entire article of these Shining-themed food ideas. Dick Halloran, chef of the Overlook Hotel, serves food to guests throughout the novel, at times making up for the eerie loneliness of the hotel itself. Jack also frequents the bar — so perhaps cocktails are a good option for this party as well, with food and drink connecting the past and present of the haunted hotel, in both the film and novel.

Squid Ink Pasta, an idea I came up with and am excited to try for the occasion.

8 ounces squid ink or linguine pasta

Marinara Sauce

Mozzarella Cheese Balls

Black olive slices

Cook pasta according to instructions. Add salt. Drain. Heat sauce.

Poke a hole in the center of cheese. Place olives in hole. Put sauce on top of pasta to serve as “blood”. Place these on top of pasta to serve as “eyeballs.”

To Kill a Mockingbird

Harper Lee

An American classic, which also features an iconic Southern background. To Kill a Mockingbird obviously pairs well with Southern dishes. Of course, ham must be included in order to represent Scout’s ham costume, as humorously portrayed in the film but would be also be perfect around the holidays as they too center around large family meals. Southern classics like biscuits, fried chicken, fried okra, and whiskey are all go-to’s. Food represents wealth and comfort in To Kill a Mockingbird, portrayed in the divide between classes and race in the novel and film and the foods they eat, and would be an interesting dynamic to discuss while eating a food with such rich ties and history.

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More Suggestions

Conversely, you could add to a night out in a restaurant with an accompanying read, by seeking literature that involves a new or favorite food. In this case, for example, follow up Southern comfort food with To Kill a Mockingbird if cooking is not in your repertoire. Other options include turning to The Joy Luck Club to add some depth to your takeout, Sweetbitter when taking an adventurous turn around New York, or even Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs to engage kids in reading! Here are a few others I can’t wait to give a taste:

The Bell Jar

“Arrayed on the Ladies’ Day banquet table were yellow-green avocado pear halves stuffed with crabmeat and mayonnaise, and platters of rare roast beef and cold chicken, and every so often a cut-glass bowl heaped with black caviar.”

Think Vodka, caviar, cold lunches of meat and eggs. For more on the actual food in the novel you can read here.

The Goldfinch

The novel and film of the season, with meals strewn throughout a young lifetime. For more on The Goldfinch read The Attic on Eighth’s Discussion of Donna Tartt, and for more on the food, you can read here.

Highlights include potato chips, Vegas food, champagne, Manicotti pasta.

The Secret History

Gather your favorite group of tortured souls to eat and discuss this novel that follows classics students who commit a crime at their isolated liberal arts college. Food, and who pays for it, is a marker of wealth and personality throughout the novel, which juxtaposes fancy dinners out with lonely vending-machine meals against the backdrop of Vermont winters.

The menu here isn’t a difficult one — roast lamb and asparagus, Black and Tans, or embrace the cozy atmosphere and stick to wine or tea.

Mrs. Dalloway

Mrs. Dalloway is the quintessential summer dinner party book, in fact, the book mainly takes place on one summer day and follows the planning of a party. Flowers, while not a food item, are certainly needed here and should be the star. Food can be simple, and you can find inspiration in this article to throw an easy dinner party of your own.

My Brilliant Friend

The first in Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels series, this novel follows Lina and Elena as they grow up in Naples, Italy. Italian food is iconic around the world, and you can’t go wrong with plenty of pastries, pasta and tomatoes, or Neapolitan classics like homemade pizza or fresh seafood.

Do you have a favorite book and food combination? Share with us below!

Olivia Kingree is a recent college graduate with a degree in English Literature from Drew University. She lives in the New Jersey suburbs outside of New York City, where she spends her time knitting, reading, and writing. You can read more of her writing here.