In an age of sensory overload, literature has found a way to cut through the noise and appeal to our most primal instinct: hunger. Recently, a surge of novels has emerged in which food is not a backdrop but a central character – a catalyst for transformation, a mirror reflecting identity, and a conduit for exploring desire, loss and self-discovery.
Sarah Davis-Goff, co-founder of the Irish publisher Tramp Press notes the joy she finds when food appears in literature. “It’s a little like clothes or the architecture of a space; it does so much heavy lifting in terms of sensation, placement and even character,” she says. “Knowing what’s in a person’s fridge is as interesting and illustrative to me as knowing what’s on their bookshelves.”
Sarah Davis-Goff, co-founder of the Irish publisher Tramp Press notes the joy she finds when food appears in literature. “It’s a little like clothes or the architecture of a space; it does so much heavy lifting in terms of sensation, placement and even character,” she says. “Knowing what’s in a person’s fridge is as interesting and illustrative to me as knowing what’s on their bookshelves.”
