Remembering a few of our favourite books in which fabulous feasts were served
Tables groaning with dishes, foodstuffs from days gone by or perhaps even foods that exist only in our imaginations… the feasts from some of our favourite books stay with us forever. Here are a few that still make us hungry to think about them…
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
A fishy feast sets the scene for the meal over which the Count plots to bankrupt the evil Danglars.
"They began to pass around the dusky, piquant, Arlesian sausages, and lobsters in their dazzling red cuirasses, prawns of large size and brilliant colour, the echinus with its prickly outside and dainty morsel within, the clovis, esteemed by the epicures of the South as more than rivalling the exquisite flavour of the oyster, North. All the delicacies, in fact, that are cast up by the wash of waters on the sandy beach, and styled by the grateful fishermen “fruits of the sea.”
Five Get Into Trouble by Enid Blyton
Famous Five Feasts must be among the most memorable in fiction but it wasn’t <all> lashings of ginger beer…
“Once again they bought food for their lunch – new bread, farm-house butter, cream cheese, crisp lettuce, fat red radishes and a bunch of spring onions. Richard bought a magnificent chocolate cake he saw in a first-class cake-shop… ‘Woof,’ said Timmy longingly.”
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Dickens is synonymous with food, both for his depictions of the hungry and food-poor, best depicted in novels such as Oliver Twist, but also for his descriptions of food and its deeper meanings. Here’s one such meal from A Christmas Carol, a celebration of enough being as good as a feast…
"There never was such a goose. Bob said he didn’t believe there ever was such a goose cooked. Its tenderness and flavour, size and cheapness, were the themes of universal admiration. Eked out by apple-sauce and mashed potatoes, it was a sufficient dinner for the whole family; indeed, as Mrs. Cratchit said with great delight (surveying one small atom of a bone upon the dish), they hadn’t ate it all at last! Yet every one had had enough, and the youngest Cratchits in particular, were steeped in sage and onion to the eyebrows!"
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling
Like Dickens, JK Rowling plays regularly on the differences between the haves and have-nots where food is concerned. Having seen Harry’s terrible life and meagre rations at his home with the Dursleys, as readers, we gasp along with him in Hogwarts Great Hall as he sees dish after dish of delicious food magically appear on a table.
“Harry’s mouth fell open. The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, chips, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup and, for some strange reason, mint humbugs.”
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
Gatsby’s ridiculous parties on Long Island must get a mention in any rundown of fabulous fictional feasts…
"At least once a fortnight a corps of caterers came down with several hundred feet of canvas and enough coloured lights to make a Christmas tree of Gatsby’s enormous garden. On buffet tables, garnished with glistening hors-d’oeuvres, spiced baked hams crowded against salads of harlequin designs and pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to a dark gold. In the main hall a bar with a real brass rail was set up, and stocked with gins and liquors and with cordials so long forgotten that most of his female guests were too young to know one from another."
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
There’s nothing quite so irritating as unexpected guests is there? But even an enforced fictional feast has an air of jollity about it…
"Already it had almost become a throng. Some called for ale, and some for porter, and one for coffee, and all of them for cakes; so the hobbit was kept very busy for a while. A big jug of coffee bad just been set in the hearth, the seed-cakes were gone, and the dwarves were starting on a round of buttered scones, when there came-a loud knock. ‘I hope there is something left for the late-comers to eat and drink!’
‘What's that? Tea! No thank you! A little red wine, I think, for me.’
‘And for me,’ said Thorin.
‘And raspberry jam and apple-tart,’ said Bifur.
‘And mince-pies and cheese,’ said Bofur.
‘And pork-pie and salad,’ said Bombur.
‘And more cakes-and ale-and coffee, if you don't mind,’ called the other dwarves through the door. ‘Put on a few eggs, there's a good fellow!’ Gandalf called after him, as the hobbit stumped off to the pantries. ‘And just bring out the cold chicken and pickles!’”
We were inspired to recall these fictional feasts, having enjoyed our Gathering feature in our February issue: Book Club Supper. It includes recipes by Louise Gorrod for a Fig Dark and Stormy cocktail, vegetarian mezze platter, stuffed giant pasta shells and a chocolate ginger cake. The issue is on sale now or you can buy it in our online store.
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More from our February issue…
