Fiction for the Foodie

[hippywife]

This was recommended to me by one of the friends we had dinner with Friday night. I just requested it from the library, and there is going to be a little wait. Anyone else read this?


The Hundred-Foot Journey: A Novel by Richard C Morais

With his debut novel, longtime Forbes magazine correspondent Morais delves into a rich, imagery-filled culinary world that begins in Bombay and ends in Paris, tracing the career of Hassan Haji as he becomes a famed Parisian chef. Narrated by Hassan, the story begins with his grandfather starting a lowly restaurant in Bombay on the eve of WWII, which his father later inherits. But when tragedy strikes and Hassan's mother is killed, the Hajis leave India, and, after a brief and discontented sojourn in England, destiny leads them to the quaint French alpine village of Lumière. There, the family settles, bringing Indian cuisine to the unsuspecting town, provoking the ire of Madame Mallory, an unpleasant but extremely talented local chef. From vibrantly depicted French markets and restaurant kitchens to the lively and humorously portrayed Haji family, Morais engulfs the reader in Hassan's wondrous world of discovery. Regardless of one's relationship with food, this novel will spark the desire to wield a whisk or maybe just a knife and fork..

[tigereye]

1. no, but it sounds good!

I really like literate food reading, not only fiction, but commentary, I guess, and biography.


Here are some I like Anita Desai Fasting Feasting - we read this not too long ago for my book group

Tender at the Bone and Comfort me with Apples - Ruth Reichl

Anything by MFK Fisher

Peter King's Culinary Detective Mysteries are full of foodie fun


I also like Diane Mott Davison's Goldy Schultz mysteries.

[Warpy]

2. Davidson was a lot more fun before Goldy got so churchy

but at least she still skewers the occasional true believer in that church.

Dorothy Cannell is another one with food as a major mystery theme, a romance writer who honed her chops on formula stuff but was eventually driven around the bend by it. Her first mystery novel, "The Thin Woman," is truly wonderful and I can't recommend it highly enough. The series went on for some time, producing such notable titles as "How to Murder your Mother in Law" and "How to Murder the Man of your Dreams," the latter a sendup of Fabio (remember him?), someone overdue for a sendup.

Another culinary mystery writer is Tamar Myers. Her Pennsylvania Dutch series features outrageous puns in the titles and Amish recipes in the books as part of the plot line. "Between a Wok and a Hard Place" is one of my faves from that series.

Really good culinary fiction is still out there and most women writers have an intimate connection with food. Crime fiction seems to be especially good for foodies.

[tigereye]

3. hmm, I must have missed those - in the early ones Goldy just puts in an

appearance at the Episcopalian Church, right, with a few muffins! :rofl:


Cannell is wonderful, isn't she? I've read Myers as well - those are quite funny!



:hi: