Comments on: Turkish delight isn’t very good in real life.

By: Kelsey

Kelsey — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 17:41:18 +0000

Anyone who has read the House Of Night series knows that the main character, Zoey, loves “brown pop” and Count Chocula cereal. I was never a soda drinker before, but now whenever I see a Dr. Pepper, it calls my name. Also, Count Chocula is delicious.

It’s so funny how these things work.

By: Tamara

Tamara — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 18:34:07 +0000

I used to have a bit of a “yuck” impulse when it came to eggs, fried, boiled, or otherwise. But then I read King Rat by James Clavell, of all things, and the way he described how an egg tasted to a starving prisoner of war has forever converted me. I now LOVE eggs in all forms.

By: Gilbert J. Avila

Gilbert J. Avila — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 06:14:06 +0000

Now you know why I never read vampire novels.

By: Monica

Monica — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 22:50:30 +0000

How come no one has mentioned green eggs and ham? All I have to do is add some avocado to scrambled eggs to make this childhood favorite. (BTW, I bought Turkish Delight at Harrod’s just because of The Chronicles of Narnia. Alas, I thought it tasted like soap.)

By: Kristin Laughtin

Kristin Laughtin — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 21:14:04 +0000

I think the craving comes from the idea that the food is important enough to mention, so it must be good. Food, though it can be delicious and time-intensive to produce, is something we deal with everyday. It’s required for us to live. But we do lots of other things every day: breathe, use the restroom, shower. How often are those things mentioned in literature, unless the particular circumstances are important? They’re not, and neither do we expect food to be unless it matters. In addition, eating is a sensory experience, and so when we read about it, we connect it to the way it smells and tastes, and those things trigger our hunger, making us want to eat.

I was disappointed when I found out Turkish delight was real. It took away some of the magic for me, and that was killed even more when I tried it and didn’t have Edmund’s reaction to the taste. I think because of one of the animated versions, I was expecting it to be like strawberry mochi ice cream, but not cold. The other food I remember deliberately going out of my way to try was watercress sandwiches because I loved E.B. White’s THE TRUMPET OF THE SWAN when I was a child. Unfortunately, I didn’t care that much for watercress either. Not a book, but after I saw THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG, I had to try beignets. Luckily I live near Disneyland, so it is easy for me to obtain those scrumptious pieces of heaven.

By: J.A. Beard

J.A. Beard — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 19:42:19 +0000

I love Turkish delight. I would totally sell out a fantasy kingdom or my siblings for it.

Admittedly, you have to find a good supplier, though. My experience with just random grocery store TD has been about a 33% success rate.

By: Julie Nilson

Julie Nilson — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 19:02:10 +0000

– The chocolate river in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (until Augustus Gloop falls in, anyway)

– Pretty much everything that Tita cooks in “Like Water for Chocolate,” but especially the quail with rose petal sauce

– Butterbeer and chocolate frogs (which I have now tried at the Wizarding World amusement park, and I can report that both are AWESOME)

By: Steve Masover

Steve Masover — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:57:51 +0000

I worked in the early 1990s for the Emma Goldman Papers Project at UC Berkeley. One year we made cards to send to supporters and to sell as part of fundraising efforts that included Goldman’s recipe for blintzes that she’d included in one of her letters to a friend (“I wish you were here,” she wrote, “for I am making blintzes…”). Of course it wouldn’t do to send the card without trying the recipe, so I brought in a gas stove and made Emma’s blintzes in our main workroom, surrounded by lateral file cabinets filled with facsimiles of some thousands of letters, manuscripts, and government documents written by or about the influential anarchist.

The blintzes were pretty good. Almost as good as my grandma’s …

By: Stephanie P.

Stephanie P. — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:51:40 +0000

Gabriel Garcia Marquez helped develop my taste for a good cafe con leche. And Anne Zouroudi all things Greek. You’re practically drooling at her descriptions of food, nostalgic for Greece.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:30:17 +0000

I’m reading Water for Elephants, and the author describes a big spread of eggs and sausage for the circus workers after the main character rides in a train car all night. You’re right, I think it’s in the writing, getting sucked into the head of a character. Like, “Ew, he’s all dirty and tired and starving, but OH MY GOD, TOAST, YAY.”