Gourmet Ft Bookworms – A dreamy collaboration
Whenever we are asked about our favourite cuisine, we respond with a story in our heads relating to that food. Food has long served as a source of sustenance for humans and inspiration for some incredible works of art. So let me ask you a question. Are you a foodie?
Suppose the answer is hell yeah! Here are some sweet and spicy novels to indulge in to curb your cravings. Here is a list of a few food-themed fiction novels that will notch up your passion for food academically.
Disclaimer: Make sure to keep your stomach full whilst reading these books. Else you might end up in your pantry.
1. The Color of Tea by Hannah Tunnicliffe
After moving in with her husband on Macau’s tiny, bustling island, Grace Miller finds herself in a strange environment. To add to that, she is forced to discover the excruciating news of her infertility. Grace’s marriage is falling apart, and she loses all hopes of having a family. Amidst that turmoil, she resorts to doing something bold, something her mother would do, and she turns to what comforted her the most: baking and the pleasure of brewing afternoon tea.
Grace goes on to open a cafe where she serves coffee, tea, and macarons. Grace finds out with the love she received that home is not where you are born. Instead, home is where you feel the most alive. With her breaking marriage not a secret anymore, she realises it is now or never to bury the old ghost for good and begins to trust herself. Grace finds her new strength with every mug of coffee brewed, a cup of tea prepared, and every coloured macaron baked.
The Color of Tea is a delectable, melt-in-your-mouth food-themed fiction tale about love, friendship, and renewal, incorporating the sweet delights of French pastries and China’s fascinating fragrances and sights.
2. Cinnamon And Gunpowder by Eli Brown
A thrilling adventure, a seaborne love, and a retelling of Scheherazade’s story—complete with the most fantastic meal ever served on a pirate ship.
A renowned chef named Owen Wedgwood has been abducted by a ruthless pirate named Mad Hannah Mabbot. However, the pirates keep a condition before sparing the chef. She demands him to put exquisite food in front of her every weekend.
To satisfy the captain. Wedgwood starts curating dishes out of the limited supplies on board. He wins over everyone with his food. But Mabbot- who seems drawn to the chef- is under siege.
Cinnamon and Gunpowder is a swashbuckling epicure’s adventure simmering over an unexpectedly touching love story—with a dash of the oldest, most beautiful cookbook ever written—with a dash of the strangest, most delightful cookbook ever published. Eli Brown has written a unique adventure tale through this delicious food-themed fiction, in which the Scheherazade story is turned on its head at sea and with food.
3. The Chocolate Lovers’ Club by Carole Matthews
Warning: This food-themed fiction will give you a constant urge to grab all the chocolates and devour them all at the same time
If you’re looking for a light and fluffy novel with a love for chocolate, this book is for you. This story follows Lucy and her three companions as they indulge in chocolate whenever life becomes too difficult. It is like Sex and the city, but instead, the women in this story are chocoholics instead of shopaholics !! It is refreshing for anyone who wants a light read.
4. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender, Bildungsroman
This fascinating and hilarious tale, set in modern-day America, is about a young girl named Rosie with a scarce gift.
Food can be much more than just something we eat to stay alive. Rose Edelstein learned she possessed a unique ability: she could sense the cook’s emotions by tasting the meal. So prepare yourself for a roller coaster of emotions as secrets are revealed and everything turns a little gloomy.
Readers will laugh aloud while learning that things aren’t always as they seem with this food-themed fiction. Don’t be surprised if you change your perception of everyone after reading this book.
5. Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch
Lina had always assumed she knew her mother. But Lina’s life was turned upside down when her mother died of pancreatic cancer while she was still in high school. Lina relocates to Italy to live with her father, whom Lina had no idea existed. She learns more about her mother than she ever imagined possible while she is there. Things that will have an impact on her life. People usually come to Itlay for many reasons, but a few stay back for only the same reasons – Love and Gelato.
She discovers more about love and life through Gelato in Italy. I remember eating a whole bucket of my favourite ice cream whilst reading this beautiful book. So, a little heads up, keep your refrigerator stocked with some mouth-watering Gelato while picking this read; you will probably need it.
6. Love & Saffron: A Novel of Friendship, Food, and Love by Kim Fay
In the manner of the classic 84, Charing Cross Road, this hilarious and heartwarming tale follows two women in 1960s America as they find that food truly unites us all and that friendship and laughter are the best cure.
Love & Saffron is a jewel of a tale that reminds us that food and companionship are the remedies to virtually any grief and that human connection is always worth making.
I found myself bowling while reading this food-themed fiction at the end, along with the characters. It felt like an instant camaraderie developed with these two women on this journey of discovering their agency through love, food, loss, and healing.
7. Kitchens of the Great Midwest – J. Ryan Stradal
Lars Thorvald is left to raise his infant, Eva, on his own when his wife, Cynthia, falls in love with wine–and a handsome sommelier. He’s set on passing on his passion for cuisine to his daughter, beginning with puréed pork shoulder. Eva finds comfort and salvation in the flavours of her home state of Minnesota as she grows older. From Scandinavian lutefisk to hydroponic chocolate habaneros, each component reflects a step in Eva’s road to becoming the star chef of a famed and hidden pop-up supper club, ending in a sumptuous and emotional feast that exemplifies her spirit and resilience.
Kitchens of the great mindset is one of a kind in a pool of various food-themed fiction novels. It’s a dramatic mother-daughter narrative about life’s bittersweet nature–missed opportunities and happy discoveries. It heralds the arrival of bright new talent. This is a good choice for a book club.
8. Heartburn – Nora Ephron
Is it feasible to write a hilarious novel about a beautiful marriage breaking up? The response is a resounding yes if the author is Nora Ephron. For in this creative confection of adultery, revenge, group therapy, and pot roast, the creator of Sleepless in Seattle reminds us that humour is as much about sorrow as it is about wheat and butter.
Rachel Samstat discovers her husband, Mark, is in love with another woman seven months into her pregnancy. Of course, it doesn’t help that the other woman had “a neck as long as an arm, a nose as long as a thumb, and you should see her legs.” However, because Rachel makes a profession writing cookbooks, food is occasionally an issue.
Ephron’s irrepressible protagonist provides some of her favourite recipes in between attempting to win Mark back and openly wishing him dead. Heartburn is a sinfully delectable tale as hearty as mashed potatoes and as light as a perfect soufflé. One of the most popular food-themed fiction novels. among the food-related novels.
9. Miss Cecily’s Recipes for Exceptional Ladies – Vicky Zimmerman
This big-hearted book is held together by an improbable friendship between two stubborn, lonesome souls who challenge us all to wish for more. Kate Parker volunteers at the Lauderdale House for Exceptional Ladies after her life breaks apart on the night of her 40th birthday. Cecily Finn, 97, is one of the people she encounters there. Cecily’s thinking is as quick as her tongue, but she’s tired of everything.
Cecily, who has no compassion for Kate’s life or love choices, gives her a self-help book…sort of. She suggests she read Thought for Food, an unintentionally amusing 1950s cookbook full of zeal, with recipes for anything life may offer at the “easily disheartened,” including:
Tea for a Crotchety Aunt
Breakfast with a Hangover
Dinner for a Charming Stranger
Kate will learn far more than recipes as she and Cecily break out of their ruts. Among the food-themed fiction novels, this is a delightful and lighthearted read.
Conclusion
Everything we do in our lives revolves around food has always been incredible, whether we eat, cook, watch shows, or read about it. In the truest sense, it satisfies one’s spirit. So, here are a few of my preferred food-themed fiction novels. So, all you fellow readers, go ahead and devour these finger-licking novels!!