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Books that Cook
Feed mind and body at book club get-togethers
By Berit Thorkelson
Photo by maki strunc photography
food styled by Betsy Nelson
styled by Lynn Ostrowski
food styled by Betsy Nelson
styled by Lynn Ostrowski
Smith likely didn’t envision the combination of Raspberry Diet Rite and Welcome to My Planet (Where English Is Sometimes Spoken), though it scored major benefits for Pam Hoye’s Twin Cities book group. “It was a small start,” Hoye says of the group’s first ingestible/book pairing. Applicable, too. The book’s main character, named for its author, St. Paulite Shannon Olson, is addicted to that very specific soda.
In the five years since, the club has regularly connected book with food or drink—blood orange cocktails and roasted garlic (see recipes) for the vampire chick-lit book Undead and Unwed by Hastings novelist MaryJanice Davidson; hunks of rustic breads and cheeses for the sixteenth-century novel The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory. “It’s a fun way to bring the book, or at least a piece of it, alive,” Hoye says.
As book clubs surged in popularity (thanks, Oprah!), many of them, like Hoye’s, seek a deeper connection to the books, and to each other, through food. The Book Club Cookbook (Penguin, 2004) proves that urge by profiling clubs with names like Wuthering Bites and Epicureaders from across the country. It showcases 100 books, from The Good Earth to Harry Potter, paired with more than 100 recipes ranging from simple to challenging. Examples include the sun-dried tomato and goat cheese pizza (see recipes) alluded to in The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger and tandoori shrimp (see recipes), a tribute to the hero in Yann Martel’s Life of Pi that combines his Indian heritage with the seafood that nourished him.
“Food goes hand-in-hand with getting together,” says St. Paulite Suzanne Brust, a club member highlighted in The Book Club Cookbook. “When it relates to the book, though, it creates a richer experience.” Brust’s first such experience was an unforgettable Russian feast, capping a year her book club dedicated to Russian literature nearly two decades ago.
Photo by Maki Strunc Photography
Full mouths make conversation difficult, so take the pressure off guests by eating, then talking, or by offering smaller portions. When Hoye hosted her club for Red Meat Cures Cancer by Starbuck O’Dwyer, she whipped up mini-burgers and hand-cut garlic fries (see recipes) to feed into the irreverent theme. “I went with the smaller burgers to keep it social and portable,” she says.
Another benefit to the menu: The fries could be cut and the patties formed the night before. Easily pre-prepped foods are a big plus, especially since book clubs tend to meet weekday evenings, leaving most hosts only a sliver of time between the day’s activities and book club. You don’t want to miss out on the discussion because you’re stuck in the kitchen.
To avoid getting overwhelmed, keep things comfortably within your culinary limits. Consider old standbys: Rena Wiltfang-Roepke, a member of Hoye’s group, prepared her family’s time-tested lasagna (see recipes) for the discussion of Lucia, Lucia by Adriana Trigiani. Incorporate purchased food or limit book-themed dishes to an appetizer, dessert, or drink. Ideally, food will enhance your time with the book and each other, providing that deeper experience to which Brust attests. “Over the years, so many books have really influenced me,” she says, “and my eating.”
Berit Thorkelson is a St. Paul freelance writer.
For more information on resources in this story, please reference our Buyer's Guide.
11 ISSUES (1 YEAR)
