Writing with Food

This is turning into such a theme lately! But every time I turn around, there’s another post on this topic!

This one is a post by Jacqueline Carey, author of Kushiel’s Dart and many other books, from tor.com: Writing With Food: A Culinary Journey

I loved Kushiel’s Dart, though this series goes to pretty grim places, so I’m just saying, if that’s not what you’re in the mood for right now, fair warning. The series is by no means grimdark, however, and Carey is a fantastic writer, so if you’ve never tried her work, you might look something of hers up. She has some Urban Fantasy out too, none of which I have read, though I’ve had one of those on my TBR pile for years.

But back to the topic: Writing with food!

During the summer I spent on the island of Crete, in the village where we lived there was a family-owned taverna that didn’t have a name. The father worked over an outdoor grill in one corner of the terrace. I still daydream about their grilled octopus. That simple yet exquisite dish led me to commit a rare culinary anachronism in my alternate historical writing. In Kushiel’s Mercy, Imriel arrives on the island of Cythera. Looking for a grounding detail, I thought about my favorite meals in Greece. Consequently, my oft-beleaguered young hero enjoys a rare moment of respite with a luncheon of grilled octopus accompanied by potatoes cooked in olive oil.

Potatoes, oops.

A week or two before the book was released, I woke up in the middle of the night and realized, “Ohmigod, we haven’t discovered the New World yet, potatoes couldn’t possibly exist in this scenario!” Too late. I never actually did correct that reference. By the time the opportunity to proof the paperback edition rolled around, I was kind of amused by it and decided to let it stay so I could use it as a trivia question.

Click through if you’d like to read the rest of post.