Rec List: Food
May. 26th, 2020 09:38 amI love food! Not just cooking and eating, but also feeding people and thinking about how the food we eat is grown, processed, transported ect., and thinking about what food means to people. Of course, I love fiction that focuses on food and explores these topics. This is a list of media that does interesting and clever things with food: food used to tell us about the character or the world. I hope you find something to enjoy!
Guardian — This supernatural investigation Chinese drama does an amazing job of using food to show character and relationships! What the characters eat and how that says so much about them. The way various characters use food to show that they care about each other is just so great! In Chinese culture it's a gesture of respect and love to place food on someone else’s plate. There are several places where this is used very meaningfully. There’s also a key character whose love language is feeding people and some excellent found family group meals. ( Spoilery content notes )
On a Red Station, Drifting by Aliette de Bodard — This novella about two women on a space station trying to deal with a distant war has excellent food details. There's a wonderful banquet scene and plot relevant vats of fish sauce!
Spiritwalker Trilogy by Kate Elliot — Kate Elliot uses food to show the reader more about the world she has created. For example, maize is mentioned early in these books and that gives us a hint of what the Americas are like in this world even though the characters don’t travel there for a long time. The food also tells us a lot about class and other social divides, plus I love the way the main character saviors things!
"Sun, Moon, Dust" by Ursula Vernon — This such a great little story about magic swords, potatoes, and the importance of feeding people!
Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing
by Anya von Bremzen — This memoir mixes family history, Soviet history, and recipes. I love the way it mixes intensely personal things with large scale history, and gives each recipe both personal and political context.
Sliver Spoon by Hiromu Arakawa — I love this manga about a city kid who goes to an agricultural high school. It features some very relatable moments for those of us who haven't thought very hard about where food comes from. But I love the way the characters are able to think deepy about the animals they are raising and the ethics of eating them. (Content note: industrial agriculture, animal death)
Imperial Radch Series by Ann Leckie — These books do a lovely job of using food as a cultural signifier. There are a lot of different cultures in this world that have complex relationships with each other and Leckie uses food to highlight that. I also really like the tea in these books! Tea is not only culturally important but the production of tea is economically and politically important to the plot as well!
What media do you think explores food well?
Guardian — This supernatural investigation Chinese drama does an amazing job of using food to show character and relationships! What the characters eat and how that says so much about them. The way various characters use food to show that they care about each other is just so great! In Chinese culture it's a gesture of respect and love to place food on someone else’s plate. There are several places where this is used very meaningfully. There’s also a key character whose love language is feeding people and some excellent found family group meals. ( Spoilery content notes )
On a Red Station, Drifting by Aliette de Bodard — This novella about two women on a space station trying to deal with a distant war has excellent food details. There's a wonderful banquet scene and plot relevant vats of fish sauce!
Spiritwalker Trilogy by Kate Elliot — Kate Elliot uses food to show the reader more about the world she has created. For example, maize is mentioned early in these books and that gives us a hint of what the Americas are like in this world even though the characters don’t travel there for a long time. The food also tells us a lot about class and other social divides, plus I love the way the main character saviors things!
"Sun, Moon, Dust" by Ursula Vernon — This such a great little story about magic swords, potatoes, and the importance of feeding people!
Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing
by Anya von Bremzen — This memoir mixes family history, Soviet history, and recipes. I love the way it mixes intensely personal things with large scale history, and gives each recipe both personal and political context.
Sliver Spoon by Hiromu Arakawa — I love this manga about a city kid who goes to an agricultural high school. It features some very relatable moments for those of us who haven't thought very hard about where food comes from. But I love the way the characters are able to think deepy about the animals they are raising and the ethics of eating them. (Content note: industrial agriculture, animal death)
Imperial Radch Series by Ann Leckie — These books do a lovely job of using food as a cultural signifier. There are a lot of different cultures in this world that have complex relationships with each other and Leckie uses food to highlight that. I also really like the tea in these books! Tea is not only culturally important but the production of tea is economically and politically important to the plot as well!
What media do you think explores food well?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}