A question about food

[MVV]

How much do you care about what your characters eat? Do you think it's important? Do you mention it at all? I like food and I also like to cook, so in my WIP, there is quite a lot of space for it. Also, I feel that this is one of the things that can make the world feel more realistic.
I'm just curious about your feelings and opinions.

 

[CupofJoe]

Most of the time I don't bother with great descriptions. If my characters go into an inn for the night I don't think it really matters what they eat. I will make it generic like a stew, cheese and bread or something similar and let the reader fill in the details.
That said there are three occasions when I do go in for descriptions.
The first is if I have them on the trail and far from fresh food for a long time. I will try to reflect that in what they eat and how they act. It can get very boring eating bacon and beans for weeks on end. I have made one character carry around a bag of spices and herbs [and salt] that were used to make the soups/meals vary in taste. I did give one character diarrhoea when he ate too much fresh fruit after weeks of life on the trail.
The second is when I want to show that they have travelled to a new culture. New ingredients and even new foods will appear and they will have to react to them. Rices might replace starched or grains making a meal look very different. Fruits dried or fresh will change too as will the spices available.
Lastly there is If-I-want-to... I have in at least one story included a recipe that the Protagonist really enjoyed and wanted to learn. As he learnt it, I was able to info-dump a little as she explained that one of the ingredients was hard to get hold of "because of the war down that way". As a by-product he also made a friend of the cook that might prove to be useful later on.
So actually I probably do include a lot of food in my work...
And I do like reading about forgotten foods and recipes.

 

[Nagash]

Food, i think, is one of many ways to carve differences between cultures; if your WIP contains many races, you might want to think about determining if they are carnivorous, omnivorous...etc. If you want to go deep in forging entire cultures, you can think about some typical meals, what food is mostly cooked in an area of the globe. Having recently traveled across europe, i witnessed how cultural difference is dazzlingly shown illustrated through food, from one country to an other. Scandinavian countries have many fish-based meals, while western europe is fond of red and white meat. Finnish meals were the highlight of the travel, since they combined simplicity and pure delight of the senses.

Point is, food is a cultural aspect amongst plenty other. Its understandable that one might want to develop said aspect, but I for one don't see it as an obligation. This being said, if you love cooking, it might be a hoot to write

 

[Saigonnus]

Food doesn't play a particularly strong role in most of my works, but I did mention how my "druids" eat; mentioned grilled strips of meat in a spicy sauce placed inside a plant leaf with chopped herbs or bulbs and eaten. I also mention how they raise their own livestock and plants for use instead of taking anything from nature that they can't give back.

In a short story, I mention two of the party member chowing down on sliced mutton in a mustard sauce while the Kobold member feasted on artichoke soup (he's a vegan). Mostly though, food is typical and not really mentioned in the scheme of things unless it somehow gives insight into a culture, race or story in some way.

 

[Svrtnsse]

As mentioned previously food can be used to add depth to the setting. I've got a scene in my WIP where the MC is taking part in a meal at the local inn in the village he's visiting. The food is pretty rustic and he notices that the mash seems to be made from real potatoes, with lumps and all, whereas he's used to instant mash made from from freeze dried powder and mixed with water.

 

[Ophiucha]

I think it is like any other aspect of worldbuilding - it can be great, adds flavour (ha) to the world, gives it depth, but ultimately you can't include everything so each writer will decide whether or not this is something they'll explore. The same goes for things like fashion, arts, architecture, etc.. The best thing food can offer on its own is the ability to bring another couple of senses into the writing - smell, taste. Underutilized in most books. I find it hard to read unending descriptions of how everything looks without nary a mention of how it sounds or feels or smells, and I think making a writer talk about food can help them consider other ways to evoke the reader's senses. But for many, it would be more of a writing exercise than something they'd want to bring into their worldbuilding in any real detail.

For me, personally... well, I adore food and cooking. Half of my protagonists are chefs, most of the others are hunters, florists, alchemists, or brewers. The climax and framing device of my NaNo was a dinner scene (the dessert was poisoned, but I went into excruciating detail on the first four courses as well). So I definitely love a little food in my fantasy.

 

[wordwalker]

Wow, we've gone five whole replies without anyone mentioning Brian Jacques and his Redwall books!

Like people have said, food can be used to demonstrate anything from a bit of character or world-building to adding color to a moment. Jacques shows what happens if you push it to the limit, but have the descriptive power to back it up. (I don't know what Deeper'n Ever Pie is, but I want some.) But mostly, decide how much room you have for food for a story purpose, or for the fun of it, and be sure it isn't more space than you can do justice to.

 

[Saigonnus]

Wow, we've gone five whole replies without anyone mentioning Brian Jacques and his Redwall books!

Me personally; I have never heard of them, much less read them, so it would be unlikely that I mention their food-related qualities in response to the question.

I do know that many authors (Robert Jordan for one) tended to at least mention a meal here or there as they traveled across the land, to give a sense of how the cultures change.

 

[Ophiucha]

George R.R. Martin is the one who comes to mind, for me. Not just for the two or three cookbooks published based on his novels, but for the fact that he precedes some rather climactic scenes with unnecessarily long descriptions of food. If you stopped halfway through the chapter, you'd think the Red Wedding was named such for the colour of the lamb. I'd also mention J.K. Rowling, if only for the fact that there are entire candy shops that sell nothing but Harry Potter merchandise. I thought it worked rather well to add colour to the wizarding world.

 

[madicienne]

I think that food is a great way to share the nuances of your world with the reader, as well as to help anchor them if the setting is otherwise unfamiliar.

Megan Whalen Turner's books have a Mediterranean-inspired setting, and her characters frequently eat olives. This little detail really helps me to imagine other details about the setting, without having having to read about the physical landscape, etc. It's an effortless detail on her part that really helps "complete" her world.

In my own WIP, I frequently get comments about a scene wherein a young boy makes himself some porridge. His mother isn't there so he piles it high with sugar. A lot of my beta readers have told me they really liked this scene because despite all the other unreal things that are going on, this is a very real moment.

Personally, I'm not into foodporn and lengthy descriptions of food don't interest me, but as a detail, I love it

 

[Penpilot]

Food is a tool IMHO. It's a means to an end, so there are many ways you can use it and it's description. If your POV character loves food, describing it in detail will show the reader how much. If you're characters are walking through a market and noticing all the different foods from around you're story world, that hints to the reader about how diverse your world is. Describing the lavish food in a banquet can say something about the banquette and the people holding it, especially if peasants are starving. On the other hand the lack of lavish food can say something too.

If you love food and are passionate about it, it can be a great tool, if used right, to say something about your story world. Some people use cloths or weapons and armor, and for me, food can be grouped into that lot.

 

[Ruby]

How much do you care about what your characters eat? Do you think it's important? Do you mention it at all? I like food and I also like to cook, so in my WIP, there is quite a lot of space for it. Also, I feel that this is one of the things that can make the world feel more realistic.
I'm just curious about your feelings and opinions.

Hi MVV, yes, I think food is very important in a novel. If your characters have been travelling for days without sustenance the poor reader tends to become a little bit suspicious about the plot.
My character is just entering the Flat Earth game here, and her first sentence was to ask for breakfast. (Btw I wrote that yesterday, before I even read your question, so it MUST be important.) I'm also writing a book about time travelling wizards and I had to find out early on what the Victorians ate for breakfast. Then, I wondered, what would a time traveller eat in his time machine?
Food is important. In LOTR, for example, Frodo and Sam have food given to them by the elves so that they can survive on the mountain.
All religious festivals revolve around specific food dishes and Knights of old would have had grand feasts where animals were roasted. Also, you could have a sub plot of sickness from mouldy food or food poisoning. Kings would have someone who would first taste their food and wine.