Esmeralda Stone

A discussion I recently had with a reader—okay, it was with my husband—was about why my characters do so much cooking and baking in my books. I have a few reasons for this. The main one being I’ve always enjoyed reading books that involve food. Jennifer Crusie’s Bet Me and Agnes and the Hitman are two right off the top of my head, as well as the Hannah Swensen series by Joanne Fluke. Because it’s something I like to read, it’s become something I like to write, and almost everything I’ve written has a cooking or food element to it.

Another reason is, as a writer, I try to find things that will help the reader relate to my characters. Most people like food. They like to eat, they like to smell things baking, and they oooh and ahhh over a perfectly golden turkey. Throughout history, whenever people have gotten together for weddings, funerals, stonings, holidays, breakups, baby showers, or Uncle Stan being released from prison, food is present. If one of my characters is baking banana bread (this will never, ever happen unless it’s baked and then fed to the chickens), a reader may read it and then think about how much they like banana bread (or detest it), remember when their grandpa used to make it on cold, wintery mornings, and then obsess about banana bread for days and days until they’re forced to make some or plead with someone else to make it for them. All the while cursing the book character for putting it in their head in the first place. And there we have it—an instant connection between reader and character.

The final reason is that it gives the characters something to do while the story is unfolding. There’s nothing worse than reading (or writing) a completely flat scene of dialogue where all the characters do is raise their eyebrows, frown, or scratch their noses while they hash out some issue. But if they’re slamming pots and pans around, emphasizing their point with a knife while chopping veggies, or throwing a bowl of chopped gizzards at their ex, then you have a dynamic scene.

So there you have it, the reasons you’ll read about baking, cooking, and eating in my books. And maybe the occasional food fight.

Side note: Does anyone else think the lady in the image looks like she’s pulling on her demon tongue instead of tasting something on a wooden spoon? Maybe it’s just her eyes, but I laughed too damn hard at it not to use it for this post. Happy Wednesday!

Esmeralda