How do we use fiction in food? What does a character’s choice of food reveal about them? Do you simply have to go and make a dish when it’s described so beautifully in a book?
On this very special episode, a collaboration with the wonderful Spice Bags podcast, we discuss everything from 17th century Spanish literature to contemporary American horror, Italian detective novels to Japanese magical realism. Grab yourself a glass of Amarone and have a listen!
Guests
Named after everyone’s favourite Chinese-Irish drunk snack, Spice Bags is a show about Ireland’s relationship with food from the outside world. It is hosted by Mei, Blanca and Dee, three multicultural women living in Ireland, who love to chat about the food they love, and sometimes hate, interviewing people in Ireland and abroad who are helping to shape the culture of food.
You can find out more about the show and the hosts here
Works & Authors Mentioned & Referenced
Dinah Fried: Fictitious Dishes: An Album of Literature’s Most Memorable Meals
Anon.: Lazarillo de Tormes
Francesco de Quevedo y Villegas: The Swindler
Andrea Camilleri, Montalbano series
Manuel Vázquez Montalbán: Pepe Carvalho series
Stephen King: It
Stephen King: Thinner
Thomas Harris The Silence of the Lambs
The Silence of the Lambs(film, dir. Jonathan Demme)
Haruki Murakami: Hard Boiled Wonderland and Wind Up Bird
The films of David Lynch
Shirley Jackson: We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Haunting of Hill House, and Life Among the Savage
If you enjoy the episode and want to find out how to support the show then click here for more information.
After all that talk about Montalbano why not listen to this history of detective fiction, including the detective himself?
What about more horror and gothic? Here’s an episode is on HG Lovecraft
Got a recommendation of some great food in fiction? Leave a comment below or check out the Words To That Effect Facebook Page and the show is on Instagram too!
Words To That Effect is a member of the Headstuff Podcast Network. Check out a whole host of great Irish podcasts here