What Do Aliens Eat?
If you were a dinner guest of magic-wielding aliens, what
would they serve you? And, being that these aliens live in an enchanted forest,
what type of food is available to begin with? Those were some of the questions
I asked myself while writing my second book, The Wrong Fairy Tale. After a few brainstorming sessions, I came up
with what I thought was the perfect answer—but we’ll get to that in just a bit.
Food can play a very important part in the setting of a
novel. I think about Little Women,
when the girls finally have quite the feast for Christmastime, but instead
choose to give their bounty to a family in need. Or, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe comes to mind, where Edmund
gorges himself on Turkish Delight when the queen uses it as a bribe. And who
could forget Anne of Green Gables,
who is so eager to try Raspberry Cordial and everything ends in disaster?
In my novel, The Wrong
Fairy Tale, important information is given during mealtime. Our heroine,
Alex, not only has to digest key details recently revealed, but foreign food as
well. She and her friends have been miraculously transported to a magical
forest filled with aliens (the Alfara) who look like elves. And in order to be
a good guest and not offend her hosts, she must try the dish set before her: Prakova. Prakova, which I made up, of course, is an Alfaran delicacy. On the
outside, it looks like a white, feathery crab, and on the inside, the meat is
pink and tender. When Alex braves eating something alien, she is delighted to
find that it actually tastes great—potential crisis avoided, thank goodness.
In our own lives, food plays an integral part of every day
living. We often gather around the dinner table for holidays, celebrate a
marriage at a reception with food and drink, or spend quality time with loved
ones around a hot meal. Food brings us together. So, it’s only appropriate that
food becomes part of a fictional story. I think that when used properly, the
food a writer places in her story can actually make things more interesting.
After all, as a reader, if I can smell and taste what the character is smelling
and tasting, I can better relate to that character. I can put myself in their
shoes and feel like I’m there. It’s a
writer’s job to transport the reader, so why not use food as part of the
process?
Thanks for stopping by to share your food for thought, Tamar!
You can find Tamar here:
I know exactly what you mean. Reading a romance novel this evening while nursing baby to sleep I learned a lot about the main characters while they ate dinner. But what really had me in a knot was wanting some of the biscuits, fried chicken and apple pie that were so mouthwateringly described.
ReplyDeleteIt added a sense of realism to my experience when I also felt their anticipation for dessert. lol
Completely agree. ;)
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